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)
• 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 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.
  • +447045715341 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: Graham Wilbert <graham.willbert@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 12:41:21 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Lottery Claim






Good day to you,

I am in receipt of your email and would want to inform you that with respect to your reference number, you have been selected as a winner in this quarter of the UK National Lottery Online Sweepstakes Promotion in the second category.

Your email address which was randomly selected along with others from over 24,000 website on the Internet was attached to a ticket number (112-4540-525-106) which subsequently won you the lottery in the second category. You are therefore entitled to claim a lump payout sum of £715,000.00 (Seven Hundred and Fifteen Thousand Great Britain Pounds) in cash credited to your file ( UXL/03920462943/07). This is from a total cash prize of £5,005,000.00 (Five Million Five Thousand Great Britain Pounds) shared equally amongst the seven (7) lucky winners in your category.

You are required to provide the information requested below to facilitate my activities with the verification department for the release of your cash prize.

1. Full Name(s):
2. Full Address:
3. Telephone No.:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Marital Status:
7. Occupation:
8. Nationality:
9. Country of Residence:

Endeavour to keep information about your lottery winning confidential until your claims have been processed and funds have been remitted to you. This is to avoid double claiming as it might lead to your disqualification by the lottery board.

I await your swift response to the requested information to forge ahead with proceedings.

Best regards,
Graham Willbert.
(+44) 704-571-5341


















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

---------------------------------
Yahoo! Mail is the world's favourite email. Don't settle for less, sign up for your freeaccount today.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam