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:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was sent to thousands of people)
• 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.
  • evans@gmail.com

Fraud email example:

From: "Rachel Gregory" <gregorachel@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 28 Oct 2005 15:10:42 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!

AUTOMATED EMAIL LOTTERY PROGRAM
WATFORD,
UNITED KINGDOM.


REFERENCE NUMBER: ALP/653/029/05
BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03

AUTOMATED EMAIL LOTTERY PROGRAM
WATFORD,
UNITED KINGDOM.


REFERENCE NUMBER: ALP/653/029/05
BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03


Dear Beneficiary,

We are pleased to annouce the results of the draws of the Automated
Email Lottery Programs held on October 27th, 2005 in Watford, United
Kingdom. Your email address attached to Serial Number 2-562-765 drew
the lucky numbers 9-14-6-10-7-19 which consequently won in the 2nd
Category.

CONGRATULATIONS!!!

You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
$1,000,000 (One Million United States Dollars). All participants for
this year's program were selected randomly through a computer ballot
system drawn from 15,000,000 email addresses from search engines and
websites spanning across Australia,New Zealand, America,Europe, North
America, Africa and Asia.This Promotional Lottery Program is conducted
annually to create the awareness and encourage the use of computers and the
internet worldwide.This program is being promoted and sponsored by some
eminent personalities like Bill Gates of Microsoft Incooperation,Micheal
Dell of Dell Computers,the Sultan of Brunei and a host of some philantropic
organisations.

To file your claim, please contact your Claim Agent:

Name: Mr. Evans Peterson
Email: Peterson.evans@gmail.com

Due to regulations and privacy policy, we ask that you keep your
winning information confidential until you complete the process of
filing for your claim. This is part of our security Protocol to avoid double
claiming and impersonation.

Remember, all prize monies MUST be claimed not later than 14th
November, 2005. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed.
You
are thereby encouraged to file your claim without any delays.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please
remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in all of your
correspondences with your claim agent.

Winners below 18 years of age are automatically disqualified from
processing their claims.

Furthermore,should there be any change of your address, do inform your
claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations once again from all our staffs.


Sincerely,


Dr. Rachel Gregory

Program Director
Automated Email Lottery Program

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam