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:

• 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "Sky Technologies" <technologies_sky@yahoo.com> (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 9 Sep 2006 03:26:40 +0200 (MEST)
Subject: Prize Alert!


CLAIM NOTIFICATION NOS: 213-127-798-SKT102!!!!RE: WINNING FINAL NOTIFICATIONCONGRATULATIONS!!!SKY TECH PROMOTIONSPROMOTIONS DEPTINTERNATIONAL PRIZE AWARDDEPT.Sir/Madam,We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Sky Technology PromoWinners International programs held on the 17th of July, 2006. Your e-mailaddress attached to ticket No:008-115-627-609 with prize No 323-509-992GLHdrew GBP2.800,000.00 which was first in the 2nd class of the draws. Youare to receive GBP2.800,000.00(Two million eight hundred ThousandGreat British Pounds only).Please be informed that because of mix up in cash pay-outs, we ask you tokeep your winning information confidential until your fund(GBP2.800,000.00) has beenfully remitted to you by our accredited pay-point operators. This measuremust be adhered to in order to avoid the loss of your cash prizes.Prize-winners of our cash prizes are advised to adhere to theseinstructions to forestall the abuse of this program by otherparticipants. It's important to note that this draws were conductedformally, and winners are selected through an internet ballot system from74,000 individual and companies e-mail addresses, hence, the draws areconducted around the world through our internet based ballot system.The promotion is sponsored and promoted by Sky Technology SoftwareGroup.We congratulate you once again. We hope you will use part of it inour next draws; the jackpot winning is GBP 20 million.Remember, all winning must be claimed not later than 25 days of this draw.After this date all unclaimed cash prize will be forfeited and included inthe next sweepstake. Please, in order to avoid unnecessary delays andcomplications remember to quote your winning numbers in all correspondencewith us.Congratulations once again from all members of the SKY TECH Software Lotto.Thank you for being part of our promotional program. For immediate releaseof your cash prize to you,please kindly contact our pay processingoperators with the following information for onward forwarding to thepaying Bank:(i)Your names,(ii)State amount won.(iii)Contact Address(iv)Your winning numbers(v)Contact telephones and fax numbersHoneyWell Holdings3-6 Abbey Creek SWI37London UKContact person:Mr. Michael Smith(International Processing Department).Email:payoperators@hotmail.comCongratulations once again.Yours Sincerely,Mrs. Betty Anderson(Promotion Coordinator).N.BPlease note that you are not to reply this mail as it will be regarded asinvalid proceed to contact the pay office

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam