joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: "promo250@walla.com" <promo250@walla.com>
Date: Mon, 17 Jul 2006 02:24:16 +0700
Subject: DEAR CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER.




GOLDSTAR INTERNATIONAL ONLINE E-GAMES
Lotto Winners of 1,500,000.00 Euros
Ref. Number: 35149/337-5247/LN1
Coupon Number: NL132478

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of winners of the
GOLDSTAR ONLINE E-GAMES LOTTERY POGRAMS held on 10th July 2006.Your Company
or your personal e-mail address is attached to winning number
20-01-2005-02MSW, with serial number S/N-00168 drew the lucky numbers
887-13-865-37-10-83, and consequently won in the first lottery category.

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of One Million Five
Hundred Thousand EUROS(1,500,000.00) in cash credited to file REF NO:
35149/337-5247/LN1 and Coupon NO.NL132478.

This is from total prize money of GBP 10,687,000 EURO, shared among the
Twenty international winners in this category.

All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot
system drawn form 21,000 names, 3,000 names from each continent, as part of
International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, which is conducted once in every
four years for our prominent MS WORD user all over the world,and for the
continues use of E-mail.

Your fund has been deposited in an escrow account with our affiliate
Bank here in NETHERLAND, and insured with your REF NO: 35149/337-5247/LN1
and your E-mail address.

You are to keep your ref. number and coupon number from the
public, until you have been processed and your money remitted to your
personal account.We hope with your prize, you will be happy to promote the
use of E-mail and the use of MS WORD.

To claim your winning prize, you must first contact the claims
department by email or call for processing and remittance of your prize
money to you.Your assigned claims Director contact is:

MR.JAMES KELLER
GERTENBACHSTAAT 90
1106 WC AMSTERDAM
THE NETHERLAND
TEL:31-644-911-685
FAX:31-847-520-740
Email:claimsdirector33@netscape.net

He is to help you in claiming your due prize. Remember, all prize money
must be claimed not later than the 27th July, 2006. All funds not claimed on
or before the fixed date will be penalized accordingly.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and coupon numbers in all correspondences
with your claims director.All response should be sent to
claimsdirector33@netscape.net

Sincerely,
Mrs. Sara Borsch
For GOLDSTAR E-GAMES, NETHERLAND.



Anti-fraud resources: