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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +2348022917664 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- kennedybarrister52@yahoo.ie (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- barristerk68@excite.com
Fraud email example:
From: =?us-ascii?Q?David=20Cincibus?= <David.Cincibus@seznam.cz>
Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 03:36:35 +0100 (CET)
Subject: =?us-ascii?Q?REPLY=20IMMEDIATELY?=
WORLD WIDE LOTTERY PROMO,
MORTIMER HOUSE,MORTIMER STREET,
LONDON,W1T3JH
UNITED KINGDOM.
ATTN:WINNER,
You have been Selected in the(WWLP) 2008 Lottery Program . World Wide Lottery Promotion is a joint lottery program with Africa,Assia, Euro and America.
You have officially been approved a sum payout of $300, 000.00 (Three Hundred Thousand United States Dollars)as the lottery winner.This amount is from total prize cash of $900,000.00 Dollars, randomly distributed among Three international winners selected by our Lottery
Random System Selection(LRSS).Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our Africa booklet representative in Abuja Nigeria as indicated in
our lucky Random System.
In view of this, your $300, 000.00 cheque would be released to you by our fiduciary agent in Abuja Nigeria. An official notification of winnin is hereby issued to you as your email promotion ticket randomly drew for the Lucky Numbers: 22.13.20.10.02.Contact our fiduciary agent Barrister Kennedy Kofi on the email below for the release of your winning cheque.
(kennedybarrister52@yahoo.ie / barristerk68@excite.com)
Tel +234-80 22917664.
VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM
FULL NAMES: AGE: SEX: ADDRESS: COUNTRY: MARITAL STATUS: OCCUPATION:
PHONE
NUMBER: FAX NUMBER:
Sincerely,
MRS. STELLA ANDERSON.
[ZONAL CO-ORDINATOR]
Anti-fraud resources:
