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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:
- 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:
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: USA Lottery<dian@ldvcoaching.com>
Reply-To: lottowin1@proton.me
Date: 08 Mar 2023 04:45:02 +0800
Subject: Hello ais40901a@amitinfoservice.in
USA-Worldwide Lottery Headquarters
101 E. Hillsdale Street
(P.O. BOX 30023)
Lansing, MI 48909
USA/WORLDWIDE LOTTERY PROMOTION
Ref Number: SRL/910/16454
Batch Number: VC/23/ID007
ATTENTION: LUCKY WINNER ais40901a@amitinfoservice.in
We are happy to announce to you that your email address
ais40901a@amitinfoservice.in has won Three Million United States
Dollars. You were selected among the 10 (Ten) lucky winners
during the internet ballot draw of the USA-Michigan Lottery
Promo.
You are advised to contact the claim department immediately with
the below
information for the release of your prize money, state clearly
your
Name:
Address
Occupation
Date of birth
Telephone Number:
Reference & Batch number: As stated above:
Batch Number: VC/23/ID007 and Ref Number: SRL/910/16454
Michigan resident Laura Spears was searching for another misfiled
message when she noticed an email with a subject alerting her to
the $3 million prize. Below is the testimony of Laura spears.
www.nypost.com/2022/01/24/woman-stumbled-on-winning-lottery-
ticket-in-spam-email-folder/
Congratulation once again!
Vin Donalds
International Claims Department
District/ Claims Manager,
E-mail: lottowin1@proton.me
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Anti-fraud resources:
