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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 state 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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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: WILLIAM BEN <omowumiajoke158@gmail.com>
Reply-To: williamben954@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 17 Mar 2023 09:40:33 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATION
--
BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
300 Chestnut Ridge Road
Woodcliff Lake, NJ 07675
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.
Attn: Winner
Dear Good Friend How are you doing today .This is Mr. WILLIAM BEN from
BMW Lottery United state of America.this is to inform you that you
have been selected for a prize Luckies winning in our company your
email is among the(50) Email List to receive this winning prize
brand new 2022 Model BMW 3 Series Car and a Check of $5.5million
united state dollars from international Lottery United stated America
approved by the United States Gaming Board and also Licensed by the
International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). please Your
Urgent Response is well Needed For the Shipping of the Above Prize to
Your Home Address with your Delivery Information such as .
1. NAME IN FULL;;;;;
2. ADDRESS;;;;;;;
3. COUNTRY;;;;;;;;;;
4. NEAREST AIRPOT;;;;;;;;
5. Direct Phone Number;;;;
6. ID Card, DL or Passport Copy;;;;;
7. Occupation ;;;;;
Congratulation Once Again and your Urgent is well Needed
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Anti-fraud resources:
