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:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "foreign service manager" (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)
  • "million united state 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)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• 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 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.
  • +27731990856 (South Africa, 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.
  • adm.smith@rediffmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Mrs. Elizabeth Gregory" <ifab@adm2010.net>
Reply-To: adm.smith@rediffmail.com
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2009 16:54:59 +0000
Subject: Congratulation!!!


International Football Associations Board [IFAB]
Confederation of African Football [CAF]
In Conjunction With: 2010 world cup lottery promotion
Organizing Committee for FIFA World Cups (TM)
For The South African 2010 world Cup
SOUTH AFRICA 2010 LOTTERY SA

Congratulations!

The SOUTH AFRICA 2010 Lottery Promotion team is proud to inform you that you
have won US$2,000.000.00 (Two Million United State Dollars). Your E-mail address
is one of 200 lucky Addresses that have won in the weekly Promotion. See below
on how to claim your prize.

Details on the Winnings:
Reference Number: EG/033-20737-750/25/08/06
Batch Number: 340/1608/RDL.
TICKET NUMBER: 033-20737-750
SERIAL NUMBER: 063-05.
WINNING NUMBERS: 13-15-16-21-34-36-(8)

We wish to congratulate you on your Winnings; your email address was among
those chosen this quarter from our Special Lotto Java-based software that
randomly selects email addresses from the web from which winners are selected.
You are therefore required to contact your claim agent Dr. Joseph Adams below
on how to claim your Prize of US$2,000.000.00 (Two Million United State
Dollars). You are to forward your details to him as it will help to facilitate
the processing of your claims and certificate, which will be issued to you later
on.
This correspondence officially confirms that we are in receipt of Instructions
relating to the payment of your lottery winning Funds. You are to send your
information to your claims agent or you can as well contact him for more
information.

Here are the details required from you:

YOUR FULL NAME (MR 0R MRS)
COUNTRY:
COUNTRY OF RESIDENT:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
MOBILE NUMBER:

Remember, you have to contact your claim agent: Dr. Adam Smith, THE FOREIGN
SERVICE MANAGER OF South Africa Branch
Email: adm.smith@rediffmail.com
Phone: +27-731-990-856

For claiming of your prize and remember to quote your reference and Batch
Number for easy processing of your prize. Our DUE PROCESS UNIT (DPU) will render
to you complete assistance and provide additional information and processes for
the claims of your consultation prize.
For the processing of your winning claims, please contact the DPU Information
Officer, Dr. Joseph Adams who has been assigned to assist you. You have to note
that this program is being sponsored by the FIFA SUPPORT AFRICAN TEAM, to create
awareness for the upcoming 2010 FIFA world Cup, which is to be host by South
Africa.
Congratulations once again from all our staff and thank you for being part of
our promotions program. For claiming of your prize and remember to quote your
reference and Batch Number for easy processing of your prize.

THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
Yours Faithfully,
MRS,Elizabeth Gregory
(ADMIN SEC)
ALLSTATES BUILDING
234, WOOD MEAD STREET ,
9TH FLOOR UNIT 999 JOHANNESBURG SOUTH AFRICA

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam