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:
  • "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • "fudiciary" (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.
  • +34634062307 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)

Fraud email example:

From: <noticedelivery@centrum.cz>
Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 18:40:55 +0100
Subject: NOTIFICATION WINNER


EURO MILLION NATIONAL LOTTERY   This is to inform you that you have emmerge a lucky winner in the EURO MILLION NATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION, with Reference Serial Number: M9-7II8-581 and Batch number 502/619/ESP.Your email address was attached to the ticket  number:70-97-34-32-67-01 which drew our lucky winning numbers, which consequently won the EURO MILLION NATIONAL LOTTERY PROMOTION(1 000 000 euros) Jackpot in the first  category. You have  been approved for a payment of 0NE MILLION EUROS only incash credited to file reference number: ESP/09824588/02356/0010. All participants for the online version were selected randomly  from World Wide Websites through computer draw system and extracted from over 100,000 unions,associatons and co-oporate bodies that are listed online.To file for your claim.Please contact your fudiciary agent immediately  via the email below and provide him with your personal information.FULL NAMES:...................COUNTRY:.................. TELE/FAX IF ANY:..........MARITAL STATUS:...........SEX:................. AGE:...................... OCCUPATION:...............NATIONALITY:..............ADDRESS:......................Mr. STEVE JOHNSONEURO MILLION NATIONAL LOTTERYEmail: eurmilion@galmail.co.zaTel:  +34 634 06 23 07=====================Congratulation Once AgainYours in Service.From Mrs.Mabel RodriguezLottery Co.ordinator 

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam