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.
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "deadline" (they are rushing you so you don't have time to think properly)
• 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.
  • www.tntcouriers@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "Cherry Rings" <cherryringsclaimsdep@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Feb 2007 04:29:21 +0000
Subject: URGENT PLEASE!!!

Dear Winner,


How are you doing today? We have received information from the Bank that you
were asked to activate your account with about £2,500.00 to enable you
access your account to carryout transfer of your winnings. They also
informed us that you complained about the fees. We also informed them that
the fee to activate your account was too much for you since they have said
that they cannot deduct the fees from your account.

However, we came up with a cheaper idea that is sending you a Certified
Check which you can easily cash over in your country. The certified check
will be sent to you via the TNT Courier Company for just $543.99. This is
far cheaper compared to paying £2,500.00 to activate your account.

You are to contact the TNT Courier Company immediately via the details below
as we have already sent your Winning Check, Winning Certificate and Gold
medal to them.

TNT COURIER COMPANY
Mr. Lyall Cresswell
Email: www.tntcouriers@yahoo.co.uk

You are to contact them via their email address informing them about your
parcel and your delivery number, which is tntuk004561.

You are to get back to us only as soon as you have contacted them.

You have to hurry up as our deadline for claims is just next week.

Please do ensure that you invest your winnings well.

Cheers,

Mrs. Cherry Rings

_________________________________________________________________
Refi Now: Rates near 39yr lows! $430,000 Mortgage for $1,399/mo - Calculate
new payment
http://www.lowermybills.com/lre/index.jsp?sourceid=lmb-9632-17727&moid=7581


--

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam