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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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)
- ",500,000" (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.
- mr_philsmith10@strompost.com
Fraud email example:
From: "Brauner, Kevin C" <kcbrauner@bsu.edu>
Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:39:16 -0400
Subject: Your 2008 Lottery Winning Notification Batch N0:P2/0056/2008
UK NATIONAL LOTTER
Date of Notification 18-03-2008
Ref N0: KPL/09-002/JA.
Attn: Winner
Your e-mail address attached to the Batch N0:P2/0056/2008 with Serial
number: 06/1055 drew,15-03-08 [5] [11] [13] [17] [14] [48] [25],which
subsequently won you a prize in the category B. You have therefore been
approved to claim a total sum of ?1,500,000.00 (One Million ,Five
Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds) in cash credited to file Ref
N0:KPL/09-002/JA.
To file for your claim, kindly contact our certified and accredited
claims agent with the information below:
Name: Phil Smith
E-mail:mr_philsmith10@strompost.com
Claims processing agent
Provide him with your personal details such as,
Name
Nationality
Tel/Fax No
Brauner, Kevin C
Anti-fraud resources:
