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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:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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:
- 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.
- claims-sammydavice@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "MICROSOFT YAHOO AWARD 2008 EDITION" <astanelun@associationsystems.com>
Reply-To: claims-sammydavice@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2008 10:11:22 +0000
Subject: CONFIRMATION AWARD....
Yahoo/Msn Lottery Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road Sutton,
Greater London SM1 4te
United Kingdom.
Dear Sir/Madam
On Behalf of Microsoft Lottery Board, We are pleased to inform you of
the result of the just concluded annual final draws of YAHOO/MSN &
MICROSOFTLOTTERY
PROGRAM.After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address
emerged as one of five winners in the category \\"A\\" You are there
fore been
approve to claim the total sum of 500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand
PoundsSterling)with the information below:
Batch number.....YM 09102XN
Reff number.......YM35447XN
Winning number......YM09788
Contact the processing Consultant:
Contact Person: Dr Sammy Davice
Telephone:{+44} 70457 78692,
Telephone:{+44}70457 78226
Email:claims-sammydavice@hotmail.com
Do fill out the claims form to Dr Sammy Davice.,in other to process
the claims of your prize
(1)FULL NAME
(2)FULL ADDRESS
(3)COUNTRY
(4)AGE
(5)TELEPHONE NUMBER
(6)SEX
Sincerely,
Mrs.Jane Garrison
Anti-fraud resources:
