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: MICROSOFT
Reply-To: frontlinesecom@netscape.net
Date: Tue, 07 Mar 2006 00:15:40 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS! CONTACT YOUR AGENT.


FROM THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
MICROSOFT WORD CORPORATION, SPAIN
CALLE SAN MARIA 12,
MADRID 28840 SPAIN.
12TH SEPTEMBER 2006.

REF NO: MSW-L/200-26937
BATCH NO: 2005MJL-01

ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD INFORMATION

ATTENTION: PRIZE WINNER

We are pleased to inform you of the announcement today of the winners of the MICROSOFT WORD E-MAIL MEGAJACKPOT PROGRAMS held on 20th of August, 2006.Your company or personal e-mail address attached to Primo number 20-01-2005-02MSW, with Catch number S/N-00168 drew the Quick numbers 887-13-865-37-10-83, and consequently won in the third category. You have therefore been approved for a lumpsum pay out of FOUR HUNDRED AND FIFTY-FIVE THOUSAND EUROS(EURO455,000.00)in cash credited to file NO: MSW-L/200-26937. This is from total prize money of Ten Million Euros shared among international winners in all categories.

All participants were selected through our Microsoft computer ballot system drawn form 21,000 names, 3,000 names from each continent, as part of our International "E-MAIL" Promotions Program, which is conducted once in every four years for our prominent MS WORD users all over the world, and for the continued use of E-mail. We are sorry to let you know that our site is still under construction, as we are updating our site and our windows 2006.

Your fund has been deposited in an escrow account with our affiliate Bank here in Spain, and insured with your FILE NO: MSW-L/200-26937 and your E-mail address. Please note that, you are to contact us via email as we are promoting the use of E-mail, You have the right to call the bank, as we will provide you with the necessary details on how to claim your Prize. You are to keep your Entry number and Approval number from the public, until you have been processed and your money remitted to your personal account. We hope with your prize, you will be happy to promote the use of E-mail and the use of MS WORD.

To claim your winning prize, you must first contact your claims agent, Frontline Security Company S.A by email for processing and remittance of your prize money to you. Below is their Contact:

Contact Person:James Paco
Email: frontlinesecom@netscape.net

He is to help you in claiming your due prize. Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than the 11th of October, 2006. All funds not claimed on or before the fixed date will be penalized accordingly.

NOTE: In order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications, please remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers in all correspondences with your claims officer.

Faithfully,
Mrs. Teresa Lopez.
For MS WORD CORPORATION,SPAIN

Anti-fraud resources: