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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "high insurance policy" (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. )
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- 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.
- +447005938656 (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.
- powerbalotto@iol.pt (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Helen Johnson" <infodeptonline00@bellsouth.net>
Reply-To: powerbaloto@iol.pt
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2007 11:04:52 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON
CONGRATULATIONS YOUR EMAIL ID HAS WON
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
POWERBALL EURO E-MAIL INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
Batch No: WD18/0105/05RN
Your Ref: UKNL/255457014/07
Our Ref: UK-NL/0701/07
We are delighted to inform you that your EMAIL ID has won you
the sum of one million pounds(BP£1,000,000.00) in our free online
lottery promo that was held on 9th of October 2007 and the winning
prize as been deposited in Finance House here in london-uk in
your favour as beneficiary and covered with HIGH INSURANCE
POLICY
To begin your lottery claim, please contact our agent below that
have been appointed for the processing of your winning payment
with your full name,country,contact email address,telephone and
fax number to begin the processing of your payment.
Contact name: Mr.James Ben
City/ country : London, England,
Fax + 44 7005 938 656
EMAIL: powerbalotto@iol.pt
Congratulations once again
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs.Helen Johnson
Co-coordinator.
NB: PLEASE SEE THAT YOU QUOTE YOUR REF AND BATCH NUMBERS IN YOUR
CORRESPONDING TO YOUR CLAIMS AGENT.
Anti-fraud resources:
