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.
• 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.
  • culverconsultingagent@fsmail.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Director Martin" <rmartin@lotto.eu>
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2006 23:59:55
Subject: Congratulations!!! winning award notification

TO WINNERS IN OUR PROGRAM

Good day,

This is to congratulate you over your success in our computer balloting
sweepstake held on 5th December,2006 in which your email address
attached to ticket number LNT456780909890 and drew the lucky numbers
4-10-12-55-25-67,batch number 4578/NL and consequently won the lottery in the
1st category. This is a millennium scientific computer game in which
email addresses were used and it is a promotional program aimed at
encouraging internet users;so you do not need to buy a ticket to enter for our
online lotto program. Therefore,you have been approved of a lump sum
amount of U.S $1million dollars credited as Bond into your security file
LOTTERY REF NUMBER Amt/nt/423275/01 with our security agent. This
amount is from the total prize money of $15,800,000 shared among the
seventeen international winners in categories C with serial number:
IL/PLW/18-C0547671254. Note that this program was largely promoted and sponsored
by a group of philanthropist, industrialists from the internet ware
industry and some other big multinational firms who wish to be anonymous.
Therefore,to confirm the legitimacy of our lotto program, the below
website is one of the websites we are running over the internet concerning
our lottery programs in Europe.

http://www.lotto.nl/


To file for your claim, please send your confirmation email to your
claim officer. Below is the contact details of your claim officer:

MR.CURTIS LUCAS
(PAYMENT DIRECTOR)
CULVER CONSULTING AGENCY
LONDON,UK
EMAIL: culverconsultingagent@fsmail.net

Conclusively,this email should not be treated as a scam scheme or be
taken for granted,we are backed up by the appropriate lottery law in the
Netherlands and only the successful winners in this our online lotto
program receive this congratulation mail and because you won that is why
this mail is being directed to you. Remember that all prize money must
be claimed not later than 7 working days. After the last day, all funds
will be returned as unclaimed. Congratulations once again from our team
of staff and thank you for being part of our promotional program.

Sincerely,
Director
Rita Martins
(Lottery Coordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam