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.

 

 

Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:

Fraud email example:

From: <eventscoordinator@virgilio.it>
Date: Tue, 20 Dec 2005 13:07:32 +0100 (GMT+01:00)
Subject: programs coordinator

Dear Winner,

WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION
We are officially informing
you of the result of the Lottery Winners International programs held on
the 14th of november 2005 as part of our promotional programs for the
year 2005. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number 77007742781005-
18721 with reference number 414-3721060 drew winning numbers 7-00-71-00-
66-49 and credited to batch number 121cfc, which consequently won in
the 3rd category via our electronic ticket as stated above. You have
therefore been approved for a pay out of £1,800,000.00 (One Million
Eight Hundred Thousand Pounds).

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Total funds have
now been deposited and insured with our affiliate security firm for
transfer into your nominated bank account either by means of wire
transfers through any of our correspondent banks or any other means
suitable to you. We also advice that you keep your winning information
very confidential as our security policy demands to avoid double
claims/impersonation and unwarranted abuse of this program by some
individuals.

All participants were selected through a random
computer ballot system drawn from over 800,000 company and 1,000,000
individual email addresses and names from all over the world. This
promotional program takes place annually and we hope with part of your
winning you will take part in our next year ?20 Million Pounds
International Lottery. To file for your claim, you will be contacting
our accounts department authorized to verify and process your claims
for your total payment (You will receive more information upon your
acknowledgment of this email).

This lottery is promoted and sponsored
by software corporations and other private organizations to help
individuals generate fortunes which would encourage them to expand
their business frontiers thereby creating more opportunities and
assisting with humanitarian concerns within their immediate
environment. Please Note that winnings must be claimed not later than
30th of january 2006. After this date all unclaimed funds will be
included in our subsequent program coming up later in 2006. In order to
avoid complications always quote your reference number in all
correspondence.
Furthermore, should there be any change of address do
inform us as soon as possible. Congratulations from our organization
and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

N.B: Anybody
under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified from this program.
Sincerely yours,
Mrs Ann Potter
Programs & Events coordinator
(Highwater Group)

Anti-fraud resources: