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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 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)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- +447031870657 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +447011143576 (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.
- brtgrants_claims2311@yahoo.se (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "NATIONAL LOTTERY GRANTS" <brtgrants_claims2311@yahoo.se>
Date: Sun, 02 Dec 2007 16:43:05 GMT
Subject: Winners Notitifcation......... Contact Richard Peters For Winnings
THE NATIONAL LOTTERY
P.O.BOX 1010
LIVERPOOL L701NL
UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Notice Center)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: BT-4478474121P
2nd Of December, 2007
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of your winning notification
in this weeks draw of the National Lottery heard herein the
United KIngdom. You were entered as dependent clients with:
SERIAL NUMBER: S144-66584A and Batch number BT-4478474121P.
Your email address attached to the ticket number: 74454774
that drew the lucky winning numbers:08-14-19-29-29-48
Bonus Ball [38] which subsequently won you the lottery in
the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.
In view of this, you are therefore granted for payment of
£1,000,000.00 (One million,Great Britain Pounds Sterling)
which would be released to you by our Fiduciary agent. You
will therefore,funish him with your full Names as it would
appear in you International cashiers cheque and the
Original Winning certificate.
MR.RICHARD PETERS.
UNITED KINGDOM LOTTERY CLAIMS AGENT.
E-mail: brtgrants_claims2311@yahoo.se
TEL: 44-701-114-35760 24HOURS
Tel: +44-703-187-0657
Fax: 44-7871-251-8504 24HOURS
Claims Requirements: (Prize Winning Receipt)
1.Name in full:
2.Home Address:
3.Age:
4.Occupation:
5.Phone Number:
6.Present Country:
7.Sex:
He is responsible for the processing and transfer of your
winnings to you. YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS
Z-90237-Y°67/U4 (keep personal). Remember, your winnings
must be claimed not later than one month of notification.
Our winners are assured of the utmost standards of
confidentiality, and press anonymity until the end of
proceedings, and beyond where they so desire. Be further
advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality
until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems
associated with fraudulent claims. This is part of our
precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and
unwarranted abuse of this program.
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
Ms. Shelley Spencer
(Lottery Coordinator)
Anti-fraud resources:
