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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "VODAFONE IRELAND" <winnings@vodafoneonline.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: mos.abraham@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:12:34 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS FROM VODAFONE
Office of the Director General
Vodafone Ireland
Vodafone House
Sandyford
Dublin
Ireland
Dear Sir/Madam,
This is to confirm that as part of our annual spring promotions, your
email has been selected as one of our 10 lucky winners in our online draw.
You have been awarded the sum of €1, 0000 (One Million Euros Only).
Reference Number: VOIRE114477RTPA
Winning Number: 1000110
Reply back quoting this number including the following:
Name:
Date of Birth:
Address:
Nationality:
Place of Birth:
Occupation:
Please note that you might be required to provide proof of Identification
to prevent fraudulent claims.
Contact our Claims Manager on the details below:
Moses Abraham
mosabraham@vodafone.ie
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Anti-fraud resources:
