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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "vittorio foundation" (not involved with lotteries)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- 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!
- 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.
- clv.giovanni@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: zola40@mchsi.com (KARI CROFT)
Date: Sun, 06 Jul 2008 05:01:51 +0000
Subject: CONTACT MR. CLAUDIO GIOVANNI (clv.giovanni@hotmail.com) FOR YOUR DONATION
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
Dear Donation Beneficiary,
To celebrate the 50th anniversary program,The Vittorio Foundation in conjunction
with the Economic Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations
Organization (UNO) and the European Union (EU) is giving out a yearly donation
of US$100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million United States Dollars) to 100 lucky
recipients.Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and
millions of supermarket cash invoices worldwide, you were selected among the
lucky recipients to receive the award sum of US$1,000,000.00 (One Million United
States Dollars) as charity donations/aid from the Vittorio Foundation, ECOWAS,
EU
and the UNO in accordance with the enabling act of Parliament.
Please endeavor to quote your Qualification numbers (N-222-6747, E-900-56)when
making claims.
Contact Mr Claudio Giovanni, Executive Secretary,Fondazion Di Vittorio. Email:
clv.giovanni@hotmail.com for your claims
Regards.
KARI CROFT
Anti-fraud resources:
