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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
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.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
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 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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "courier service" (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:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- 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.
- 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.
- thomas.manager@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY 2007 <allanwoodss@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 06:22:17 -0700
Subject: UK NATIONAL LOTETRY WINNER... LAST & FINAL NOTICE!!!
THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
43, STOCK-FIELD WAY ,
P O Box 1010 Liverpool ,
L70 1NL UNITED KINGDOM
Millions are Affiliate of UNITED KINGDOM (UK).
Sir/Madam,
CONGRATULATIONS: YOU WON -£759,100.00.
We happily announce to you the results of draw of the
UK LOTTERY,Online Sweepstakes International program
held 2007.
It is yet to be unclaimed and you are getting the FINAL
NOTIFICATION as regards this.You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of a prize of
£759,100.00 per winner. This lucky draw came first in
the 2nd Category of the Sweepstake.
You are to contact your claims agent with informations
below for further verification and payment of your
winning.
MR. THOMAS CHESS
EMAIL: thomas.manager@yahoo.co.uk
TEL : +44(0)704-572-9970
PLEASE FILL OUT THE VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE
FORM.
NAME:
ADDRESS:
AMOUNT WON:
EMAIL:
COUNTRY:
PHONE NUMBER:
AGE:
OCCUPATION:
INDICATE PREFERRED MODE OF PRIZE COLLECTION:
(A).Bank transfer Services?
(B).Use Courier Service ?
Congratulations in advance.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Hannah Jack Williams.
Online Coordinator: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
---- Msg sent via CWNet - http://www.cwnet.com/
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Anti-fraud resources:
