joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:
  • "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)
• This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. 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.
  • cliffordjonah@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "British Lottery Corporation" <bltycorp@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 2008 19:08:43 -0700
Subject: Dear Internet User (You Have Won 600,000.00GPS) !


Dear Lucky Winner,

This is to bring to your notice that you have been chosen as the lucky
winner of our 5th year Internet Lottery Award Program held yesterday and
result released today. All the e-mail address of people that are active
online were selected, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo, Aol,
Hotmail and few from other private and company e-mail providers. No tickets
were sold but all email addresses were assigned to different ticket numbers
for representation and privacy.

Your e-mail address was attached to ticket number 15791038-21500 with serial
number 441705-926 drew lucky numbers 5-41-30-85-15, which consequently won
in the 2ND category.You are hereby approved for a lump sum pay out of (SIX
HUNDRED THOUSAND BRITISH POUNDS) (600, 000.00BPS) only. This is part of our
global financial assistance for humanitarian development.

To claim your prize, please contact your beneficiary-processing agent Dr.
Clifford Jonah on his private contact information below.

Contact Person: Dr. Clifford Jonah
Email: cliffordjonah@hotmail.com

You are needed to forward to him, your winning details below to help
facilitate the processing of your claims and release of your winning
certificate. The information you are to fill and forward to him includes:-

Ref. Number: 9028/0286/3089
Batch Number: 670399201-UK48
Serial Number: 441705-926
Ticket Number: 15791038-21500
Amount won: 600,000.00 pounds
For the Month of May, 2008.
1. Full names.....................
2. Phone number...................
3. Fax number.....................
4. Occupation.....................
5. Sex............................
6. Age............................
7. Address:.......................
8. Country:.......................

On behalf of British Lottery Corporation, we congratulate you.

Yours in service,
Mrs. Grace Howard
Public Relations Officer
British Lottery Corporation
London, United Kingdom.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam