joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • uknationallotto2005@hotmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Uk National Lottery" <lottery@lotogame.net>
Date: Thu, 27 Oct 2005 09:13:18 +0000
Subject: WINNER!!!

                     The National Lottery
                         P O Box 1010
                      Liverpool, L70 1NL
                       UNITED KINGDOM
                     (Customer Services) 

Ref:UK/9420X2/68 
Batch:074/05/ZY369

                                                                                             

                       

 

                         WINNING NOTIFICATION:

We happily announce to you the draw (#996) of the UK NATIONALLOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held 1st OCTOBER 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:56475600545 188 with  Serialnumber 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 07  22  20 28  40  37  38 Bonus Ball which subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.ematch5 plus bonus.

You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterlings)in cash credited to file  KTU/9023118308/03.
This is from a total cash prize of £1,000,000 shared amongst the first four(5)lucky winners in this category i.e Match 5 plus bonus.
All participants for the online version were selected randomly from 
WorldWide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over  100,000unions,associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online.This promotiontakes place weekly.

Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our European 
bookletrepresentative office in Europe as indicated in your play coupon.
In  viewof this, your £250,000 (Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds
sterlings)would be released to you by any of ourpayment offices in
Europe.
Our European agent will immediately commence theprocess to facilitate
the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.For security
reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential your
claim is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner
you deem fit to claim your prize.

This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program. Please be warned.
To file for your claim, please contact our claims agent:

Mr.ian hilton
Email:uknationallotto2005@hotmail.com

Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,

Brian Hunt
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
Sweepstakes International Program.
Open 7 days 8am-8pm

--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam