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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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)
- 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.
- +447011148123 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- coordinator70@hotmail.co.uk (Hotmail, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "yuhsiu" <yuhsiu@kbronet.com.tw>
Date: Thu, 2 Feb 2012 23:50:22 +0800
Subject: Hello
Our REF: 70417356TZ
Date: 2nd Feb. 2012
Dear participant,
we write today in reference to a deposited fund totaling six million
pounds currently held here in our office in your favour. According to our
records, you are the sole beneficiary of the deposited fund and you are
required to contact this office immediately to verify your eligibility to
the deposited fund with a view to claiming the said fund. As soon as you
make contact with this office, you will be requested to either come to
collect the fund personally or provide a bank account details for direct
transfer of the fund to you.
For security, please quote reference number: 70417356tz when you contact
us.In order to avoid confusion in the collection process, you are required
to keep this transaction confidential until the fund has been credited to
you. Please contact the collections department
on:coordinator70@hotmail.co.uk immediately to claim your deposited fund.
Your fund will be kept in this office for seven working days and if we do
not hear from you within the specified time, your fund will be declared as
unclaimed and returned back to the original source. Your prompt response
will be highly appreciated. Please call your claims officer directly if you
need further clarification.
Regards
Hallysson Mendes
Claims Department
Tel: +44 7011148123
Fax: +44 7077089596
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Anti-fraud resources:
