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: Brian Gumm <brgumm02@jmail.co.za>
Date: Fri, 04 Aug 2006 09:49:18 -0300
Subject: PERSONAL eMAIL


Dear Winner,

WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATION

We are officially informing you of the result of the Lottery Winners International program held on the 2nd of AUGUST 2006 as part of our promotional programs for the year 2006. Your e-mail address attached to Serial 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 the 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!!!

We advice that you keep your winning information very confidential as our security policy demands,to avoid double claims/impersonation and unwaranted abuse of this program by some individuals.
 
All participants were selected through a random computer ballot system drawn from over 800,000 companies 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 instructions and total payment (You will receive more information upon your acknowledgment of this email and be regular to your mail, for response will come to you as soon as possible).
 
This lottery is promoted and sponsored by software cooperations 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 26th of AUGUST 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,
Mr Brian Gumm
fREE LOTTERY PROMOTION INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM.
Address: 74 CRANBOUNE ROAD
CITY, STATE, ZIP: LIVERPOOL,
UNITED KINGDOM

To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
Mr Spencer Reagan .
Email:agentspencer01@tlen.pl

Anti-fraud resources: