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"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: Cindy Brett <luckystar_claims@ny.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Jul 2006 00:08:41 -0500
Subject: Congratulations



REF NO :AAY333714264511
BATCH NO :14/111/AYE

DEAR WINNER

                                    WINNING NOTIFICATION

We gladly announce to you the draw of the WELFARE LOTTERY,online International program held on the, 12TH of JULY, 2006.Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 034-1416-4612-750 with Serial number 53-68-05 drew the lucky  numbers: 00-48-20-23-44-77, which subsequently won you the lottery in category A. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$20,000,000,00 (Twenty million united states dollars) in cash credited to file REF NO :AAY333714264511. This is from a total cash prize of US$100,000,000.00(one hundred million united states dollars) shared amongst the FIVE (5 ) lucky winners in this category.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide email balotting through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions,associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place Annually. In view of this, your US$20,000,000.00 (twenty million united states dollars) shall be released to you by your claims agent.To begin your claim, please contact your claims agent for due processing, details of your claims agent is stated below:

 

MR. NICK GERRY
Financial Investment Limited,Uk
TELEPHONE:+447024023929
FAX:+447092807619
EMAIL: nickgerry@doramail.com

       

 

 

You must contact FINANCIAL INVESTMENT LIMITED not later than 14(FOURTEEN) banking days upon receipt of this notification. After this date, all funds will be returned as unclaimed. All correspondences to MR. NICK GERRY, either by fax or email, should have this EMAIL sent along with it and also, your FULL ADDRESS, YOUR COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE and your EMAIL ADDRESS to which this email is sent. you are advised to keep your winning confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to you.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your reference and batch numbers in every one of your correspondences with FINANCIAL INVESTMENT LIMITED. Furthermore, should therebe any change of your address, do inform your claims agent as soon as possible.

Congratulations from all our staff and we hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes US$2 billion International Lottery.

Sincerely,

Cindy Brett
THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER,
WELFARE LOTTERY

N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. Please do not reply to this mail. Contact your claims agent

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