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: "Carole Morard" <carolemorard@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2005 13:54:21 +0000
Subject: UNIVERSAL LOTTERY PROMO INTERNATIONAL

FROM: UNIVERSAL LOTTERY PROMO INTERNATIONAL
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND.
REF NUMBER: OSL/653/029/03
BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03
DEAR SIR/MADAM,

WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU THAT AS A RESULT OF OUR RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS
HELD ON THE 1st OF NOVEMBER 2005

Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 27522465896-532 with serial
number 652-662 drew lucky numbers 7-14-18-23-31-45 which consequently won
in the 2nd category. you have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out
of $1,000,000 (ONE MILLION DOLLARS)
Note that All participants in this lottery program have been selected
randomly through a computer ballot system drawn from over 20,000 companies
and 30,000,000 individual email addresses from all search engines and web
sites.
This promotional program takes place every year, and is promoted and
sponsored by eminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, bill gates of
microsoft inc and other corporate organisations to encourage the use of the
internet and computers worldwide.
For security purpose and clarity, we advise that you keep your winning
information confidential until your claims have been processed and your
money remitted to you.

This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and
unwarranted abuse of this program by some participants. We look forward to
your active participation in our next year USD50 million slot.

To file for your claim, please contact our fiducially agent
MR. RICHARD BLEICH
E-mail address: richard_bleich@yahoo.co.uk
Remember,all winnings must be claimed not later than one month After the
date of this notice.
Please note, in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications,
remember to quote your reference number and batch numbers in all
correspondence.

Furthermore, should there be any change of address do inform our agent as
soon as possible. Congratulations once more and thank you for being part of
our promotional program.
NOTE: YOU ARE AUTOMATICALLY DISQUALIFIED IF YOU ARE BELOW 18 YEARS OF AGE.
Sincerely yours,

MRS CAROLE MORARD
(LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR)
GENEVA, SWITZERLAND


Anti-fraud resources: