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:

• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "claims 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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
  • +447040113854 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • agent.paulgoya@yahoo.ie

Fraud email example:

From: info_gov@comcast.net (National Coordinator)
Date: Wed, 11 Oct 2006 10:31:11 +0000
Subject: PBL/CN/6654/CP

POWERBALL LOTTO. UK
POWERBALL-WHEEL E-GAME 2006


Dear Consolation Prize Winner,

NOTICE OF CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING.

This email confirms that you have been notified of by the POWERBALL INTER LOTTO UK The England of your email lottery winning for 2006 Power ball Lotto - Wheel E-game held on 5th October 2006. We wish to congratulate you on the selection of your email coupon number which was selected among the 45 lucky consolation prize winners. Your email ID identified with Coupon No.PBL2348974321 and was selected by Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from the 50,000 different email addresses enrolled for the Lotto-Wheel E-game. Your email ID included among the 50,000 different email addresses where submitted by our partner international email provider companies.

Prize Ref No.: PBL/CN/6654/CP
LotteryGroup: Consolation Prize Group Prize Amount: £500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand British pounds only)
You will have to fill the form below for verification by your claims agent:

NAME:....................................
AGE:.......................................
SEX:......................................
ADDRESS:..............................
EMAIL:....................................
PHONE:.................................
OCCUPATION:.........................
COMPANY:..............................
COUNTRY:..............................
Prize Ref No............................

Lottery Claims Officer:
Name: Mr. Paul Goya
Email; agent.paulgoya@yahoo.ie
Tel:+44 704-011-3854

Congratulations once again from all our staffs on your consolation prize winning, we hope you will partake in our forth coming Power ball Lotto-Wheel Email-games.
Mrs.Roseline Donald,
(Lottery Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam