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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "voda-foneclaims@gmx.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!
- 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.
- +447024016343 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "Vodafone Company" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <voda-foneclaims@gmx.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2011 07:25:57 +0800
Subject: Dear Winner
VODAFONE LOTTERY PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL
UNITED KINGDOM.
Dear Winner, We gladly wish to inform you of the draws held on the 11th September, 2011 by the VODAFONE ONLINE PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL in conjunction with the National Organizing Committee of the 2011/2012 Barclays Premier League.
You have been approved for a lump sum pay out of Two Hundred And Fifty Thousand Great Britain Pounds (250.000.00 GBP) in cash credited to file Draw Order Number: D562785, assigned to E-Tag number 195.55.24.01 in the Random Computer Selection System(RCSS) of email addresses, flagged out the lucky numbers 22-1-15-05-11-44 and consequently won you the lottery in the 1st category.
For claims of your winning prize, kindly contact our claim agent officer via below contact information:
Contact Name: Mr. Henry Paulson
Contact Email: voda-foneclaims@gmx.com
Contact Number: +447024016343
Once again congratulations.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Elizabeth Cole
Online Co-ordinator.
VODAFONE LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO UK.
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Anti-fraud resources:
