joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

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.

 

 

Fraud email example:

From: "Mr. John Lewis" <lcordinator@volny.cz>
Date: 26 Jul 2005 17:31:45 -0000
Subject: YOUR WINNING NOTIFICATION

ONE WORLD INTERNATIONAL LOTTO
44,FERDINARD BOI STRAAT,
AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND.
AWARD NOTIFICATION / PROCESSING ADVICE:
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement
today, of winners of the SCIENTIFIC
GAME PROMO LOTTERY; THE NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL
PROGRAM held on the 3RD JANUARY,2005
Your email address attached to ticket number
18-19-34-37-47023-56678230954, with serial number
5073-11 drew the lucky numbers , and consequently won
the lottery in the 1st category. You have therefore
been approved of a lump sum pay out of pounds sterling
750,000.00 (SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND EUROS)
credited to file REF NO. SGIL/763276/03.
This is from total prize money of 24,000,000.00 pounds
sterling shared among the 50 international winners
in 1st-3rdcategories.
All participants were selected through a computer
ballot system drawn from 25,000 company email
addresses and 30,000,000 individual email addresses
from Australia, New Zealand, America, Europe, North
America and Asia as part of International Promotions
Program, which is conducted annually.
Your fund is now in custody of a
financial/Securities company. Due to the mix up of
some numbers and names,
we ask that you keep this award strictly confidential
until your claim has been processed and your money
remitted to your account. To receive your claim,
please contact your file/claim
officer:
MR.GEORGE KELLY.
FOREIGN SERVICE MANAGER.
ULTIMATE CARRIERS AND HANDLERS BV.
AMSTERDAM,HOLLAND.
TEL:31-645938893.
Email:mrgeorgekelly@lycos.com
All prize money must be claimed Within ten working
days.After this date, all funds will be returned as
unclaimed.
In order to avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please remember to quote your reference
and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences
with your agent. Furthermore, should there be any
change of your address, do inform your claims agent as
soon as possible. Congratulations once again from our team of staff and
thank you for being part of our promotional program.
Note: Anybody under the age of 18 is AUTOMATICALY DISQUALIFIED.
Please include your private telephone and fax numbers while replying.
Sincerely,
Mr. John Lewis
Lottery Cordinator.

Anti-fraud resources: