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:
  • "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
• 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.
  • claimdept@terra.com
  • claimdept2001@terra.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: LOTTERY EXTRAVAGANZA <extravalo12@hotmail.com>
Date: Mon, 28 May 2007 14:59:20 +0200
Subject: OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION



OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:

FROM THE DESK OF THE
COORDINATOR [MICROSOFT GLOBAL EMAIL LOTTERY]
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT (SP).
FILE REF: HL/5564/40/07/MICS
BATCH: MC11/834/5PDH /EU -

OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION:

DEAR WINNER:

It is obvious that this notification will come to you as a surprise but please find time to read it carefully as we congratulate you over your success in the following official publication of results of the E-mail electronic online Extravaganza organized by Microsoft, in conjunction with the foundation for the promotion of software products, (F.P.S.), held on the 25th of April 2007, in Switzerland.

Wherein your electronic email address emerged as one of the online winning email in the 1st category and therefore attracted a cash award of 1,350,000.00 Euros (One Million Three hundred and fifty thousand Euros only).

Our winners are arranged into four categories with different winning prizes accordingly in each category. They are arranged in this format below:

CATEGORY NO.OF WINNERS WINNING PRIZES
1st. 1 1,350,000:00 Euros
2nd. 1 800,000:00 Euros
3rd. 3 370,000:00 Euros
4th. 6 170,000:00 Euros


We write to officially notify you of this award and to advise you to contact the processing office immediately upon receipt of this message for more information concerning the verification, processing and eventual payment of the above prize to you.

It is important to note that your award information was released with the following particulars attached to it.
(1) Award numbers: NL 56/7765
(2) Email ticket numbers: NL553/26/96
(3) Batch numbers: MC11/834/5PDH /SA
(4) The file reference numbers: HL/5564/40/07/MICS

For verification purpose be sure to include:
(1) Your mailing address.
(2) Your telephone numbers.
(3) Your country.
(4) Your Age
(5) Your occupation

To file for your claim, Please contact your Validating Officer for VALIDATION of your winning within Twenty-one working days of this winning notification. Winnings that are not validated within Twenty-one working days of winning notification are termed void and invalid. You are required to mention the above particulars of your award in every correspondence to enable him validate your winning.

Be informed that the PAYING BANK will Effect Payment Swiftly upon satisfactory Report, Verifications and validation provided by the processing department.

CONTACT:
*******************************************************************
FOREIGN TRANSFER MANAGER
Name MR. SITHOLE DAVID MLILO
MICROSOFT PROCESSING DEPARTMENT (SP).
Tel: 0027-833-517-619
E-mail: claimdept@terra.com or claimdept2001@terra.com
********************************************************************
The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored by our CEO/Chairman, Bill Gates: http and a consortium of software promotion companies. The Intel Group, Toshiba, Dell Computers and other international companies. The Microsoft Internet E-mail draw is held periodically and is organized to encourage the use of the Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide.


Once again on behalf of all our staff,


CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Yours faithfully,
Angelina Van Ken (Mrs)
MICROSOFT E-MAIL LOTTERY PROMOTION COORDINATOR.



Copyright © 1994-2007 The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards Promotion Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service -Guideline.
_________________________________________________________________
Explore the seven wonders of the world
http://search.msn.com/results.aspx?q=7+wonders+world&mkt=en-US&form=QBRE

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam