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)
• 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.
  • +447045734645 (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.
  • powerballbv_verificationdesk@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: powerballonlinepromo@mchsi.com (POWERBALL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY INC.(powerball_infodesk@yahoo.co.uk))
Date: Tue, 09 Oct 2007 17:32:49 +0000
Subject: CONTACT THE FIDUCIARY AGENT

POWERBALL INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY INC.
5th Floor East
Commonwealth Centre
55 Currie Street London L70 1NL.
United Kingdom

CONGRATULATIONS!!!You hereby have been approved a lump sum of £850,000.0(POUNDS
STERLING)in cash credit file KTU/9023118308/03 from the total cash prize of
£125,500,000.00(POUNDS STERLING) shared amongst 550 lucky winners in this
category from the Powerball International Lottery programme held on the 07th of
october.All participant were selected through a computer balloting system drawn
from Nine hundred thousand E-mail addresses from canada,Australia, United
state, Europe,Middle East, Africa and Oceania

This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by conglomorate of some multinational
companies 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 London,United
Kingdom, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of ?850,000.00, will
be released to you from this regional branch office in London.

We hope with your prize, you will qualify to participate in our end ofyear
high stakes for £1.3 Billion international draw.

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU QUOTE BELOW YOUR WINNING PARTICULARS WHEN
CONTACTING YOUR AGENT:

United Kingdom Gaming Board
Contact Person: Sir. James Cole
Email: powerballbv_verificationdesk@yahoo.co.uk
Tel:+44 7(0)4573 4645

Batch: 12/25/0340
Ref: UK/101OXI/02
1.Name: 2.Address: 3.Marital Status: 4.Occupation: 5.Age: 6.Sex: 7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence: 9.Telephone Number (Country Code)-(Area Code)- Phone
Number):
10:Cell Number:(Country Code) - (Cell Phone Number): 11.Fax Number:
12.Draw Number above:

Congratulations, once more from the entire Management and Staff of POWERBALL
INTERNATIONL LOTTERY Congratulations to all our lucky winners

Yours Sincerely,
Suzanne Wayans (co-ordinator)

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam