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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "brandon_miller.clint@live.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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 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.
- +447045700760 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: BRITISH LOTTERY 2009 <info@blgc.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: Brandon_miller.clint@live.com
Date: Wed, 28 Oct 2009 04:10:51 -0800
Subject: RE:BRITISH LOTTERY WINNER!!!
Attn...
We publicize the external draws of the Free-Lotto Prize Award,apprehended in
United Kingdom. Based on random assortment implement of the internet websites,
from Millions of E-mails Worldwide your email address was chosen including
other three(3) Lucky winners to collect A Free lotto prize award of Nine
hundred and fifty thousand Britain pounds sterling only.
You have been approved for payment value of 950,000.00 GBP.credited to file
REF:GHT/000-760092. To claim your free lotto prize, you are to contact our
fiduciary agent with detail below:
Mrs. Brandon M. Clinton
Telephone:+4470457 00760
E-mail:Brandon_miller.clint@live.com
Furthermore remember to quote your Reference number along with the following
details to our official authorize agent.
Full Names:(Surname First)......
Occupation:.........
Telephone:.............
Gender:........Marital Status:.....Age:.....
Country:.............
This promo is governed and monitored by the British Gaming Commission of 2009
and censored (B.G.C).
Sincerely,
Mr. Murray Wallington,
Comptroller.
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Anti-fraud resources:
