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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "micro lottery international"
• 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.
  • @yahoo.ca

Fraud email example:

From: Micro Lottery International <courierdept_john@yahoo.ca>
Reply-To: michrobin23@yahoo.ca
Date: Mon, 17 Apr 2006 16:18:39 +0400
Subject: LOTTERY AWARD FINAL NOTIFICATION


MICRO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL - PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM
ADDRESS: DAALWIJK 813, 1102 AA,
DUBAI .U.A E
TEL: + 97142227148
REF: MLI/PP2005-001
BATCH: 5300/P25/FC
ATTENTION:
RE:AWARD NOTIFICATION / PROCESSING ADVICE:
This is to announce this month April 2006 result of winners of our yearly SCIENTIFIC LOTTERY GAME PROMOTION.
Your email address attached to ticket number 06-765204AC; with serial number 00349 draw the lucky numbers TOO123SIE, and consequently won the lottery in category A. You are therefore entitled to a cash award US$2,000,000 (TWO MILLION USD), file REF NO. MLI/PP2006-001. This is from total prize money of US$22, 000,000.00 shared among the international winners in our category A-C.
All participants were selected through a computer ballot system drawn from 15,000 company email addresses and 35,000,000 individual email addresses from across the Globe as part of International Promotional Program, which is conducted annually. CONGRATULATIONS! Your fund is now in custody of a Financial Security company insured in your FILE REFFERENCE. Due to the mix up of some email addresses, we ask that you keep this award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by participants of this program. This lottery program was organized by our group of philanthropist promoted and sponsored by Mr. Bill Gates of Microsoft Inc, emminent personalities like the Sultan of Brunei, Multi Choice and other corporate Organisations.This lottery program was organized to improving the use of computer software's and for the benefit of every Microsoft user.
Please send your fax number, phone number and contact addresses .
To begin your claim,
please contact your file processing officer:
MR MICH ROBIN, OF MICRO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
(michrobin23 @yahoo.ca)
With regards.
(DIRECTOR OF PROMOTIONAL PROGRAM)
- JOHN PETERSON

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam