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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "GOOGLE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL" <claimsdepartment.tw@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Mar 2008 20:06:08 +0800
Subject: CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

GOOGLE LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD.
(WE ENCOURAGE GLOBALIZATION)

FROM: THE LOTTERY COORDINATOR,
GOOGLE B.V. 44 9459 PE.
RESULTS FOR CATEGORY "A" DRAWS

Congratulations to you as we bring to your notice, the
results of the First Category draws of E-MAIL LOTTERY
organised by GOOGLE INTERNATIONAL. We are happy to inform
you that your email address have emerged a winner of One
Million (1,000,000.00) Euros, which is the winning payout
for Category A winners. This is from the total prize money
of Two Million (2,000,000.00) Euro shared among the 2
winners in this category. Participants were selected through
a computer bllot system drawn from 2,500,000 email addresses
of individuals and companies from Africa, America, Asia,
Australia, Europe, Middle East, and Oceania as part of our
International Promotions Program.

CONGRATULATIONS! Your fund is now deposited with the paying
Bank. In your best interest to avoid mix up of numbers and
names of any kind, we request that you keep the entire
details of your award strictly from public notice until the
process of transferring your claims has been completed, and
your funds remitted to your account. NOTE: To file for your
claim, please contact the claim department below on email
and providehim with the below details for verification.

Full Names:
Contact Address:
State:
City:
Telephone Number:
Sex:
Occupation:
Date Of Birth:
**********************************************
OFFICER IN CHARGE: MR. TIM WALTERS
EMAIL: claimsdepartment.tw@hotmail.com
TEL: +44 703 590 1818
**********************************************
Find below your promotion date, Reference and Batch numbers.
Remember to quote these numbers in your correspondence with
your claims agent. PROMOTION DATE 28TH OF MARCH 2008.
REFERENCE NUMBER: GLLINT/07/04/768970118. BATCH NUMBER:
78/09/230. Congratulations once again from all ourstaff and
thank you for being part of our promotions program.

Sincerely Yours,
Mrs Joyce Gram.
THE PROMOTION COORDINATOR.

Anti-fraud resources: