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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "TRUST INTERNATIONAL" <trustinternational@walla.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2005 07:57:34 -0600
Subject: RE: PRIZE AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

ATENTION,

WINNING NOTICE FOR CATEGORY "A" WINNER

Dear Lucky Winner,

RE: PRIZE AWARD WINNING NOTIFICATION

We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual
final draws of Trust International Lottery programs.

The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of 25,000
e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked by an
advanced automated random computer search from the internet. No tickets
were sold.

After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of
two winners in the category "A" with the following:

Ref Number: 35149/337-5247/LNI
Batch Number: 26371545-LNI/2005

You as well as the other winner are therefore to receive a cash prize of
TWO MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS ONLY ($2,500,000.00) each
from the total payout.

Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be
transferred to you upon meeting our requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications, validations and satisfactory report.

To begin the claims processing of your prize winnings you are advised to
contact our licensed and accredited claims agent for category "A"
winners with the information below:

MR. FRED FREEMAN,
Financial Director,
SWIP FINANCIAL HOLDINGS
De Amsterdam Port Bijlmerplein
888 1102 MG Amsterdam
E-mail : swipholdings@netscape.net
TEL: +31-630-852-889
FAX; +31-847-535-838

You are expected to provide the following details below to your claims
agent:

1) BATCH AND REFFERENCE NUMBERS
2) FULL NAMES
3) AGE
4) MAILING ADDRESS
5) PHONE AND FAX NUMBERS
6) EMAIL ADDRESS

NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 20 days. After this date
all unclaimed funds would be included in the next stake. Remember to quote
your reference information in all correspondence.

You are to keep all lotto information away from the general public
especially your reference and batch numbers. (This is important as a case
of double claims will not be entertained).

Anybody under the age of 18 and members of the affiliate agencies are
automatically not allowed to participate in this program.

Thank you and congratulations!!!

Yours faithfully,
Mrs.Jennifer Adams
Games/Lottery Coordinator.
Trust International Lottery


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