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: "THE WINNING TEAM" <jacspromo@yahoo.co.uk> (may be fake)
Reply-To: jacspromo_fay@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Tue, 23 Aug 2005 16:22:21 +0530
Subject: YOUR REF:(REPLY NOW)

FINAL WINNING NOTIFICATION
Dear Winner,

We are officially informing you of the result of the Lottery Winners
International programs
held on the 2nd August, 2005 as part of our promotional programs for the
year 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 77007742781005-18723
with reference number 414-3721060
drew winning numbers 7-00-71-00-66-49 and credited to batch number 121cfc,
which consequently won in the 3rd category via our electronic ticket as stated above. You have therefore been approved for a pay out of $1,850,000.00 (One Million Eight Hundred And Fifty Thousand USD).
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Total funds have now been deposited and insured with our affiliate
security firm for transfer into your nominated bank account either by means of wire transfers through any of our
correspondent banks or any other means suitable to you. We also advice that
you keep your winning information very confidential as our security policy demands to avoid double claims/impersonation and unwarranted abuse of this program by some individuals.
All participants were selected through a random computer ballot system
drawn from over 800,000 company and 1,000,000 individual email addresses and names from all over the world.
This promotional program takes place annually and we hope with part of
your
winning you will
take part in our next year $30 Million USD International Lottery. To
file
for your claim,
you will be contacting our accounts department authorized to verify and
process your claims
for your total payment (You will receive more information upon your
acknowledgment of this
email).
This lottery is promoted and sponsored by software corporations and
other
private
organizations to help individuals generate fortunes which would
encourage
them to expand
their business frontiers thereby creating more opportunities and
assisting
with humanitarian
concerns within their immediate environment. Please Note that winnings
must
be claimed not
later than 31st August, 2005. After this date all unclaimed funds will
be
included in our
subsequent program coming up later in 2005. In order to avoid
complications
always quote your
reference number in all correspondence.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address ,do inform us as soon
as
possible.
Congratulations from our organization and thank you for being part of
our
promotional program.
N.B: Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified from
this
program.
Sincerely yours,
JACOBS FAY
FREE LOTTERY PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.
Address: 74 CRANBOUNE ROAD
CITY, STATE, ZIP: LIVERPOOL,
UNITED KINGDOM
To begin your claim contact the winning team,now.




Anti-fraud resources: