419 scam: Mr. Geri Dowd <mail.nationallottery@transferdept.org> NATIONAL LOTTERY COMPENSATION

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:

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:
- "million dollars" (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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
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 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.
- millionaireawardinquiry1@o2.pl (O2, Poland; can be used from anywhere worldwide)

Fraud email example:

From: Mr. Geri Dowd <mail.nationallottery@transferdept.org>
Reply-To: millionaireawardinquiry1@o2.pl
Date: Mon, 09 Sep 2013 20:15:31 +0000
Subject: NATIONAL LOTTERY COMPENSATION

Congratulation,

Your E-mail address has been awarded $10.5 Million dollars in the on-going Euro National Lottery Life Changing-Promo. Your registered email was drawn at

number 3 winning for you the 3rd price worth $10.5million . For more details and claims of your winning prize kindly forward below details to our claim

department as soon as possible.

Note: Lucky winners do not have to purchase a ticket to participate in this lottery program, all email was selected from the Canada, Australia, United

States, Asia, Europe, and the Middle East regions. congratulations for you are the lucky winner. You are hereby required to verify below details with us as

soon as possible:

To claim your winning prize, kindly forward below details to our funds claim department: Contact person: Mr. Jo Holloway

E-mail: millionaireawardinquiry1@o2.pl

Tell/Text: +1 (858) 707-5127

=========================

(1) Your Full Names:

(2) Mobile number:

(3) Your Nationality:

(4) Your contact Address:

(5) Occupation:

(6) Have you ever won a lottery before?:
================================================================

An original copy of your lottery winning certificate would be forwarded to you as soon as we confirm your above details here in our office as soon as

possible.

We await your urgent reply detailing your above details.

Sign,

Mr. Geri Dowd

Co-ordinator (The National Lottery Inc.)

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam