419 Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam (2006-01)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:

The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million pounds" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "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)
- "claim-update@msn.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:
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.
- +447024055512 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Msn Lottery Inc <lottwin11@msn.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Apr 2010 11:38:45 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?CONGRATULATIONS!!!YOU_HAVE_WON_=A31=2C000=2C000=2E00_POUND?=
=?iso-8859-1?Q?S?=

WINNING NOTIFICATION DEPT
MSN-MICROSOFT AWARD LOTTERY PROGRAM
United Kingdom, 61-70
Southampton Row
Bloomsbury London WINNER NO 6
United Kingdom WC 1B 4AR.
3rd April 2010
Ref: MS-475061723 Batch: 744RT/MSN/UK

We the MSN MICROSOFT MANAGEMENT WORLDWIDE are pleased to inform you today being the 3rd of April 2010 of winners of our annual MSN/MICROSOFT PROMOTION AWARD PROGRAM conducted in UNITED KINGDOM on the 1st of April 2010

Your E-mail address is attached to WINNER NO 6, with serial number: 7741137002 and drew the lucky numbers: 6-9-11-33-36-49-29, Batch No: 744RT/MSN/UK which consequently won in the 3rd lottery category. You have therefore been approved for lump sums pay of £1,000,000.00 Pounds (One Million Pounds) in cash, Credited to file REF NO: MS_475061723.

This is from the total prize money of £40,000,000.00 Pounds which is to be shared among the Fourth international winners in categories C .

All participants in this program were selected randomly through our MSN/MICROSOFT Computer Ballot System, drawn from 85.000.000 internet users from all search engines. Your e-mail address was picked by the automated MSN/MICROSOFT Computer Ballot System, which has been
programmed for this random selection.

This has eventually qualified you for the Winning. This promotional program takes place annually, and is promoted and sponsored by MSN/MICROSOFT Companies, with the support of British/European corporate companies and organizations to encourage the use of Internet and computers worldwide. In view of this, your prize £1,000,000.00 Pounds would be released to you by Our Prize Payment Officer (Dr. DOUGLAS DALE). He will immediately commence the process, to facilitate the release of your lucky won prize as soon as you contact him for the claim of your lucky
prize.

You are to keep your ref. numbers and batch numbers from the public, until you have received your cash prize. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and the act of scamming /hacking people of their ref number and prizes.

You are advised to contact our Prize Processing Officer by means of email or phone to the below contact info within the hour of reading this winning notification and call the below number to confirm your winning

Dr. DOUGLAS DALE
Office of the Prize Payment Authority
Prize Processing Officer
MSN-Award Lottery Promotion.
Email: claim-update@msn.com
Tel: +447024055512

When you contact(Dr.DOUGLAS DALE)for your payment furnish him with the following details for the issue of your WINNING CERTIFICATE/PAYMENT
(1)Full Name
(2)Present Country
(3)Date of Birth(DATE: MONTHS: YEAR:)
(4) Occupation
(5) Home/Mobile Phone
(6) Reference and Batch Numbers
(7) Nationality

Note that all prize money must be claimed not later than one month of notification. All funds not claimed on or before the fixed date will be returned as Unclaimed Prize please be aware that our Paying Authority will Effect Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory Report, Verifications and validation provided by our prize processing officer.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in all correspondences with our payment officer.

Congratulations, once more from the entire Management and Staff of MSN/MICROSOFT COMPANY to all our lucky winners of this year.

Robert Montgomery
Chairman of board of directors

Dr.Tom Mohr
President

Dr.Mrs Hilary Schneider
Lottery Co-coordinator

Mrs. Sue Clark-Johnson
Financial Secretary

Dr. DOUGLAS DALE
Prize Processing Officer

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam