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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
  • "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • +447011149427 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
• 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.
  • info_agent7@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: CO-ORDINATOR LOTTO <aust_onlineloto239@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:26:28 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: NOTIFICATION


FROM: THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT INTERNATIONAL

PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARDS DEPARTMENT AUSTRALIAN
INTERNATIONAL SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY COPORATION,

Date:14/8/2007
Ref: 475061727
Batch: 7056490934/2007
Winning Numbers 1 2 26 30 40 21

Attn: Winner,

We are pleased to inform you of the lottery result winners of Australian International Lottery Programmes held on the 13TH of AUGUST 2007 from the Australian International Lottery programme. This is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses. Your name was attached to ticket number; 17214 Serial Number 7741137009. This batch draws the lucky numbers as follows 8-3-8-2-4-2bonus number 17, which consequently won the lottery in the second category. You here by have been approved a lump sum pay of US$200,000.00 (TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND DOLLARS) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category. YOU ARE A WINNER!!!!

Due to mix up of some numbers and names, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money remitted to your nominated bank. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claims and unwarranted abuse of this programme by some participants. All participants where selected through a computer/mail balloting system drawn from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our international promotions program which is conducted annually. This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies and also the Australian Government as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base. Further more your details (e-mail address) falls within our European representative office in Amsterdam, Holland, as indicated in your play coupon and your
prize of US$200,000.00 will be released to you from our regional branch office in WEST AFRICA OR UNITED KINGDOM. We hope with part of your prize, you will participate in our end of year high stakes for US$2.3 Million international draw.
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE: Simply contact our claims agent, DR Alex Smith at info_agent7@yahoo.com Contact number:+447011149427 To file for your claim. Please quote your Date of draw, Reference Number, Batch Number and Winning Number, which can be found on the top-left corner of this message. Also, you should give in your telephone number to help locate your file easily. For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize has been released to you and also to the public. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking advantage of this programme by non-participant or unofficial personnel. Note: All winnings MUST be claimed before the 31th of SEPTEMBER 2007; otherwise all funds will be forfeited. Congratulations once again on your winning

BEST REGARDS JAMES O'BRIEN (MR) (LOTTERY COORDINATOR) PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT AT: info_agent7@yahoo.com/



Online coordinator for
AUSTRALIAN LOTTO PROGRAMME,







---------------------------------
Boardwalk for $500? In 2007? Ha!
Play Monopoly Here and Now (it's updated for today's economy) at Yahoo! Games.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam