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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:
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "fondazione di vittorio" (not involved with lotteries)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- ",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)
- 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 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.
- sec.claudio101@strompost.com
Fraud email example:
From: mthavalon@mchsi.com (Mrs Gabriella Belusconni)
Date: Wed, 19 Mar 2008 20:41:55 +0000
Subject: NOTICE OF GRANT AWARD
DUE PROCESS UNIT:
FONDAZIONE DI VITTORIO ITALY.
Email.; sec.claudio101@strompost.com
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN.
You were selected among 7 lucky recipients to receive the award sum of
US$100,000,000.00 (One Hundred Million United States Dollars) as charity
donation/aid from the Italian Foundation.
Please contact the Executive Secretary Mr. Claudio Giovanni with your
Qualification numbers (N-222-6747,E-900-56) for onward processing of your donation.
ENTER PERSONAL DETAILS (Compulsory)
First Name: Last Name:
Annual Income:
Address Line 1:
Address Line 2 (optional):
City: State:
Zip/Postal Code:
Country:
Valid Phone Number:
Fax (optional):
On behalf of the Board kindly accept our warmest congratulations.
You
orji: Yours faithfully,
Mrs Gabriella Belusconni
(Information Officer)
Anti-fraud resources:
