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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "cost of mailing your draft" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
  • "payment for the courier" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
  • "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
  • "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
• 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!
• Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
• 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.
  • +448709468804 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: WORLD ECOURIER DELIVERY! <worldecourierdelivery@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:53:21 +0100 (BST)
Subject: DELIVERY COST/CHARGES.



World Ecourier Service {WECS}
Customer/Delivery Services Department
Mailpost House,
Courier Avenue ,Manchester .
Wythenshawe M23 0WS, United Kingdom
Tel: :+44 (709) 465 6863 , +44-(709)-465-9721



Date : 17-06-2007 / Order Numbers: WEC755UK



Attention : Customer ,

You are welcome Mailpost Courier Logistics System .Dispatch LTD an affiliate of the UK lottery, we are please to be at your service.Be notified that your winnings was forwarded to our courier agency for onward delivery to you.


This means that you have been officially cleared for payment by the Verifications Dept. at the headquarters of the BRITISH TOBACCO MEGA JACKPOT PROMOTION.

You can now begin the final step of the claims process, which is the transferring of your cash prize to you. With regards to this, there are two options open to you, you are required to select the most convenient of the two.(You are to make your preferred and affordable choice in OPTION 1)

The options, together with their associated conditions are presented below:

Courier of your winning draft to you via any of this channel listed below:

DHL (Overnight Delivery)

Mailing: £700.00
Insurance: £100.00
Vat: £40.00
TOTAL: £840.00


UPS (48 Hours Delivery)
Mailing: £520.00
Insurance:£180.00
Vat: £55.00
TOTAL: £755.00


FEDEX (72 Hours Delivery)

Mailing: £410.00
Insurance: £190.00
Vat: £20.00
TOTAL: £620.00


The insurance company declined reverse payment for the courier, stating that it is against their professional policy towards ensuring the safe delivery of the draft to you. That if a reverse payment is made, and something goes wrong, that we/you cannot sue the courier company or insurance company to recover the full value of the fund as stipulated in the draft since payment for insurance cover was not made at point of mailing. With the above reason, reverse payment is ruled out. Forward the cost of mailing your draft with any of the courier channel cost you choose above to us.


Option 2:
Condition: The cost of COT (Commission Of Transfer) being charged by our transferring bank, which is £2,000 of the cash being transferred will be paid by you.before the bank can effect the transfer of your cash prize into your account .

Note: that your prize is protected by a hardcover insurance policy, which makes it impossible to deduct any amount from the money before it has been remitted to you. This means that the above charges cannot be deducted from the prize and hence must be provided by you before your prize is transferred to you. Also,you are required to send to us as soon as possible,these few information below:

(1.)The delivery option which you've chosen.
(2.)Your bank details(if you have chosen option 2, bank transfer.)
(3.)Attach a scanned copy of either your driver's license, international passport (photo page) or any other legally identifying document and send to us for identification purposes.

Having done this,you would be given proper guidelines on how to go about sending the payment.

Payment of the courier charges should be made to the account officer via Western Union Money Transfer .After you have made your choice you are to let us know the choice in which you have choosen so that we can give you the officer details which you are to pay to.Once this is done you are to furnish us with the payment details(Senders name and MTCN) via email.On receipt of these, your consignment would be delivered to you within 24hours. for more information ,You are to note that all services rendered by the World Ecourier Service are to be paid by the beneficiary and not the UK National Lottery .


Thanks for your patronage, We await your positive response.

Warm Regards
Mr Ken Mcbride.
(DISPATCH OFFICER)
WORLD ECOURIER SERVICE.

TEL:+44 -(709)- 465- 6863
TEL:+44-(709)-465-9721
FAX:+ 44 870 946 8804




WORLD ECOURIER SERVICE®






---------------------------------
Yahoo! Answers - Get better answers from someone who knows. Tryit now.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam