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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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "barr.motley_esq@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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "HARRY POTTER FOUNDATION" <info@hpf.org> (may be fake)
Reply-To: barr.motley_esq@live.com
Date: Thu, 2 Sep 2010 01:15:08 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS FROM HARRY POTTER
Harry Potter Foundation.
Website: www.harrypotter.com
Ref: HRF/9411X/05
Batch: 026/05/WY83.
This Message is to inform you that your email have been selected for the
reward of £500,000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling), in the ongoing
Harry Potter Foundation email ballot draw held in Africa where 50 emails were
selected at random out of 24 Million emails as part of its bailout plan to
assist individuals and companies in this recent Global Economic melt down.
For processing and collection of your funds, £500,000.00 (Five Hundred
Thousand
Pounds Sterling). You are to contact The Human Resource manager:
Barrister Motley Rumford
Email: barr.motley_esq@live.com
and Quote your reward and identification number stated:{ Batch Number: HPF
09102XN Ref Number: HPF09788 }. You are to fill out the information below for
immediate process and collection of your reward prize.
YOUR REWARD INFORMATION FORM:
Full Name:
Address:
Occupation:
Country:
Telephone:
Sex:
Age:
Amount Won:
Your Qualification Number: (A-129-199, S-01-06)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Yours truly,
Dr. Robert Miller
Copyright ©HARRY POTTER FOUNDATION AFRICA. All Rights Reserved.
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