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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- yyawaers@luukku.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: JOHN BARRASSO <farida.efccpresidencyngr@gmail.com>
Reply-To: yyawaers@luukku.com
Date: Sat, 3 Jul 2021 12:52:03 +0100
Subject: VHT
Dear lottery winner!
We are pleased to inform you about the outcome of the international
online lottery program organized by Free Lotto Inc in conjuction with
Microsoft Promotion Team held on 25th June 2021. Your email address
attached to ticket number: 27522465896-6453, Batch number:
538901527-Bc68 called Reg. Number: SMLL/2021/-968091/21, which
consequently won in the 2ND category.
You have therefore been authorized to receive a lump sum payment of
US$750,000.00
(Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars).
We recommend that you contact your Fiduciary agent using the
information below for further guidance on how to redeem your winnings.
Mr Patrick Scholer
Email: ( yyawaers@luukku.com)
Regards,
Mr John Barrasso
International lottery (coordinator)hja
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Anti-fraud resources:
