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:
  • "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
  • "hundred thousand united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
• 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.
  • calvinsmith90@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: "uk lottery" <eurolottery90@msn.com>
Reply-To: tonybeny1@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sat, 07 Jan 2006 19:30:30 +0000
Subject: WINNING NOTIFICATION


EURO-AMERICAN-LOTTERY Headquarters:
Customer Service
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369

WINNING NOTIFICATION:

It is with great pleasure we announce to you, the draw of the EURO-
AMERICAN-LOTTO Sweepstake Online Lottery International programs held
on the 7st of january, 2006 in BRESIA ITALY Your e-mail address
attached
to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number
5368/02drew the lucky numbers:19-6-26-17-35-7, which subsequently
won
you the lottery in the 2nd category.

You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of Five Hundred Thousand United States
Dollars(US$500,000.00) in cash credited to file
ktu/9023118308/03.This
is from a total cash prize of US
$ 5 Million dollars, shared amongst
the first Ten (10) lucky winners in this category. All participants
were randomly selected from World Wide Web site through computer
draw
system and extracted from over 100,000 companies.

This promotion
takes place annually. Please note that your lucky winning number
falls
within our European booklet representative office in Europe as
indicated in your play coupon.In view of this, your Five Hundred
Thousand United States Dollars(US$500, 000.00)would be released to
you
by our payment office in europe.Our European agent will immediately
commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon
as
you contact him.

For security reasons, you are enjoined to keep your
winning information confidential till your claims 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 by some unscrupulous
elements.Please, be adviced. To file for your claim, please contact
our
fiduciary agent:

Mr.Calvin Smith
Email: calvinsmith90@yahoo.co.uk

To avoid unnecessary delays and
complications, please quote the following: YOUR FULL NAMES, AGE,
SEX,
COUNTRY, PRIVATE TELEPHONE & FAX NUMBER AND YOUR REFERENCE/BATCH
NUMBERS etc in any correspondences with our designated agent. Once
again, Congratulations.

Sincerely,
MR, Calvin Smith
EURO-AMERICAN-LOTTO Co-
ordinator .


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam