|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "=?utf-8?b?QXdhcmQgRS1tYWlsIFNlbmRlcg==?=" <info6@wwallprogramme.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 16:24:31 -0400
Subject: AWARD NOTICE
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Â
 We are delighted to inform you that you have won the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand Great Britain Pounds £250,000.00 GBP from YAHOO! MSN (WINDOWS LIVE) Awards programme.
Â
 YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers. four people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
Â
   PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not later than 7days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited. Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: YPA/07-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2347234522
PIN: 1207
You are hereby advice to contact the paying bank NatWestBank Plc London united kingdom for your Claim.
Â
Contact: NatWest Bank Plc.
Email: Natwestbank@london-natwest-bank.tk
Phone: +447024069533
Â
 WARNING ! Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.
FILL THE FOLLOWING DATA
Full Name:................................................................................
Contact Address:....................................................................
Telephone #............................................................................
    Â
Yours faithfully,
Miss Alan Nemes
On line co-ordinator
YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE PROGRAMME,
Sweepstakes International program.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
