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:
  • "fiduciary 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!

Fraud email example:

From: "harry henderson" <euro.henderson1@hotmail.com>
Date: Fri, 22 Dec 2006 14:28:15 +0200
Subject: CLAIMS PROCEDURE

EUROPEAN SWEEPSTAKES PROMOTION
Taberner House Park
Lane Croydon CR9 1DH
United Kingdom.

Ref: win/oct102/06
Batch:05/10/wa34

Attn:Winner,

Congratulations on your winning.

You are required to forward the following details to help facilitate the
processing of your certificate and the release of your winnings.

1. Full names.
2. Residential address/Country.
3. Phone number/Fax number.
4. Age/sex.

You are advised to forward these informations as soon as possible to enable
us attend to your file.Please note that your funds have been deposited
safely in our offshore payment office in europe and your information will be
forwarded to them before they can release your winnings.

You are also to choose the mode which you want to collect your funds:

i. Travel down to personally collect it.

ii. Through our europe redemption center,these option
are for those unable travel due to one reason or the other.

After you have sent down these information,after processing,a certificate
will be presented to you. This is an authenthication of winning from this
office
to the offshore payment office before the funds are released.It is also a
proof of the source of the funds.

Once again congratulations on behalf of management.

Yours sincerely,
Mr Harry Henderson
Fiduciary Agent.

_________________________________________________________________
Discover the magic of RSS feeds at MSN South Africa! http://za.msn.com/

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam