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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:
- "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)
- "micro-soft-dept@advir.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!
Fraud email example:
From: "MICROSOFT PROMO AWARD 2010" <personal@corevia.com>
Reply-To: micro-soft-dept@advir.com
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2010 16:51:03 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: YOU HAVE WON A PRIZE
Dear Legitimate Winner
You have Legitimately won £500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Pounds
sterlings)in the Microsoft Award 2010 Lottery promotion. To further the
claims of your prize, you are advised to contact the payment manager below
with your informations. Your email was randomly selected out of one
million email addresses used for the online draw and this qualifies you as
a winner. Your email address is attached to the winning ticket number
MS/919/2010/007, this makes you eligible to receive the approved sum.
Kindly fill the form below and send it back to me.
Do send us the informations below for the release of your winning cheque.
Full Name:.....Age:.....
address:.....State/Country:.....
Direct Telephone Number:.....
Occupation:.....Nationality
Payment Options
(i) Courier delivery Service
(ii)Bank Wire Transfer
(CONTACT EVENTS MANAGER)
Name: Mr. Frank Larsson
Email: micro-soft-dept@advir.com
This promo is governed and monitored by the British Gambling Commission
and censored (B.G.C).
We hope to hear from you soon. Congratulations!!!
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Anti-fraud resources:
