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:
  • "claims office" (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)
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
• 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 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.
  • frankwhyteesq@aim.com
  • staatloterijcom@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: "staatloterijcom@aim.com" <staatloterijcom@aim.com>
Date: Thu, 06 Mar 2008 02:39:12 +1000
Subject: Re: Your Lucky Day!

Congratulation

We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the
staatsloterij $650.000.00 USD Dollars. (Six Hundred And Fifty
Thousand United State Dollar). Program held on 29th February 2008,
released today the 5th march, 2008 in London.

All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of
10,000,000 international email addresses. Your email address emerged
alongside 9 others as a category 'A' winner
in the staatsloterij Lottery Draw. Your email is attached to the
following claim identification references:
WINNERS ID: 79/STAAT/UK-10/08
DRAW NO: 8 17 23 39 40 51
Please keep this information confidential until you have successfully
received your winnings / claim. We wish you Good Luck. You are therefore
advised strongly to start processing your claims immediately to ensure you
collect your winnings on time.

To begin your claim please contact assigned Agent to you by e-mail:


frankwhyteesq@aim.com

Frank Whyte
(Claim Processing Department) OR


E-mail: staatloterijcom@aim.com

Please quote your Reference number in all correspondence with the
claims officer and contact the appointed agent with your Full Names,
Contact Telephone Numbers (Home, Office and Mobile Number
and also Fax Number) via e-mail to process the immediate payment of
your
prize.

Once again on behalf of all our staffs,
CONGRATULATIONS!

Yours Sincerely,

Mrs, Jennifer Neumann.
(Loterij Promotions Coordinator)
www.staatsloterij.nl is een onderdeel van De Loterij Copyright-(c)
2008 staatsloterij N.V. De Nederland's and the United Kingdom.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam