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 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")
  • "claims office" (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.
  • +447045773160 (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.
  • walkermanm4@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Yahoolotto <yahooloto@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 09 Jan 2008 11:22:05 +0000
Subject: YAHOO SPLASH AWARDS NEW YEAR BONANZA


YAHOO INTERNET LOTTERY

Yahoo Splash Awards
Stockport Road, Longsight, Manchester
M60 2DB - United Kingdom
================================================
ELECTRONIC MAIL AWARD WINNING, NOTIFICATION AWARD PRESENTATION CENTRE: UNITED KINGDOM

We are pleased to inform you that your personal e-mail address have won
a prize money of 84,500.00GBP { EIGHTY FOUR THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED
GREAT BRITAIN POUNDS} for the 2007 Splash Promotion which is Organized by
YAHOO AWARDS & WINDOWS LIVE.

YAHOO! collects all the email addresses of the people that are active
online,among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo, Peoplepc, Hotmail, Sify and few from other e-mail providers. Six people are selected monthly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.

PAYMENT OF CLAIM

Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Centre.
Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed no later than 15 days from date of Draw
Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be
forfeited.Stated below are your identification numbers:

BATCH NUMBER: MFI/07/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2007234522
PIN NUMBER: 1206

These numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested
to contact our fiduciary agent in Manchester and send your winning
identification numbers to him;

AGENT INFORMATION

Agent Name: Dr Mike Walkerman
: walkermanm4@sify.com
(Tel: +44 704 577 3160

You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent
to facilitate the release of your fund to you.

1. Full name:
2. Country:
3. Contact Address:
4. Telephone Number:
5. fax Number:
5. Marital Status:
6. Occupation:
7. Date of birth:
7. Sex:

As soon as he receives your details, he shall commence the process that
will facilitate the release of your fund to you.

Your E-mail address should be used in all correspondence with your
claims Agent,please Note that, you are to contact your claims officer via
email and phone as we are promoting the use of E-mail.

Congratulations!! once again.

Yours in service,

Dr. (Mrs.) Mercy Martins
[Publicity Secretary]

PAST WINNERS OF OUR PREVIOUS AWARD.



WARNING!

Do not tell people about your Prize Award until your money is
successfully handed over to you to avoid disqualification that may arise from double claim.

You may also receive similar e-mails from people portraying to be other
Organizations or Yahoo Inc. This is solely to collect your personal
information from you and lay claim over your winning. In event that you
receive any e-mail similar to the notification letter that was sent to
you, Kindly delete it from your mail box and give no further
correspondence to such person or body.

Yahoo shall not be held responsible for any loss of fund arising from
the above mentioned.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam