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:

• An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • richlaw_agent@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "sorex promo" <sorex_pro@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: richlaw7@myway.com
Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2006 07:52:48 +0100
Subject: INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS / PRIZE AWARD.

FROM: THE DESK OF THE PROMOTIONS MANAGER.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS / PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
REF NUMBER: 3117849330/03.
BATCH NUMBER: 50/0112/NIG.
RE/AWARD NOTIFICATION

After a successful completion of the 2nd category draws of Sorex Promo
held on the 23rd of July,2006,,we are pleased to inform you of the
announcement today,16TH of August,2006, you among other two
persons,winning in

the second category, became a winner with the winning ticket number,
467-8943-78-090 ,which was attached to your e-mail address.Several
Internet users e-mail addresses in the last ten years were extracted
from the

world wide web and after careful filtration yours was found valid in
that it is up to date, before being used for the draws.As a winner in
this 2nd category you are therefore entitled to a sum of one million
dollars($1m) now available for claim.

To begin your claim process contact the claim agent,
RICHARD LAWRENCE
EMAIL: richlaw_agent@yahoo.com

Your instrument of payment as well as a copy of this notification has
been sent ahead to the claim agent who, after verifying that you are
the
actual owner/user of the e-mail address that won the draws, shall
instruct the paying bank for the release of your winning claims.
Note that the claim process is not expected to last longer than two
weeks from the date of contacting the claim agent.

Accept our congratulations!

Yours sincerely,

MARK LOUIS

_________________________________________________________________
Don't just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search!
http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam