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: "Linda Moore" <lindaa_moore@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 02 Sep 2005 17:05:18 +0100
Subject: RE: CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER NOTICE

POWERBALL INTER LOTTO. BV
POWERBALL LOTTO-WHEEL E-GAME 2005,
Date: 02 - 08 - 2005
Ref Nr: PBL/CN/6654/CP
Dear Consolation Prize Winner,

RE: CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER NOTICE

The POWERBALL INTER LOTTO BV, Nigeria; lotto e-games
Organizers and sponsors, officially notify you of the final draw result
of the Powerball Lotto - Wheel E-game draw held on 25th MAY 2005. All
draws where conducted at our international corporate office complex in
The Netherlands.
We wish to congratulate you on the selection of your email coupon
number which was selected among the 45 lucky consolation prize winners.
Your email ID identified with Coupon No.PBL2348974321 and was selected
by Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from the
50,000 different email addresses enrolled for the Lotto-Wheel E-game.
Your email ID included among the 50,000 different email addresses where
submitted by our partner international email provider companies.
You have won a consolation cash prize of US $50,000,000.00 (fifty million US
Dollars Only). The POWERBALL INTER LOTTO BV, have approved
the payout of your consolation cash prize which will be remunerated
directly to you by the official Payment Agency to released your payment via
international certified bank draft.
Our DUE PROCESS UNIT (DPU) will render to you complete assistance and
provide additional information and processes for the claims of your
consultation prize. For more information on claim of your prize, please
contact the DPU Information Officer

NAME: Mr. Ben Parker
E-mail: ben_parker@i-winning.com
TEL:
FAX:
Congratulations once again from all our staffs on your consolation
prize winning, we hope you will partake in our forth coming Powerball
Lotto-Wheel Email-games.
Regards,
Mrs. Linda Moore
(Lottery Coordinator)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NB: In accordance with the POWERBALL LOTTO -wheel E-games policy and
regulations, this notification is dispatched directly to only the 45
lucky consolation prize Winners. This notification also contains
information that is proprietary, privileged or confidential or
otherwise legally exempt from disclosure. If you are not the right
recipient whose email address attached to the lucky numbers along with
the winning information’s you are not authorized to read, print,
retain, copy or disseminate this notice or any part of it.


Anti-fraud resources: