|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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)
- ",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.
- claimsagent_williamscole@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Microsoft Lottery" <wisedombright01@gmail.com>
Reply-To: claimsagent_williamscole@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sun, 13 Apr 2008 21:12:41 +0100
Subject: YOUR EMAIL HAS WON(Kindly Reply to Confirm)!!!!!!
THE MICROSOFT GROUP.
UNITED KINGDOM.
Dear Lucky Winner,
We happily announce to you the results of draw of the Microsoft Lottery
UK
Online
Sweepstakes International program held on 13th of April 2008.It is
yet to be claimed and you are getting the FINAL NOTIFICATION as regards
this, You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
£1,000,000.00
(One Million pounds sterling) in cash credited to file
KTU/9023118308/03.
To claim your winning amount you are to contact our fiduciary agent.
FIDUCIARY AGENT: MR Williams Cole
EMAIL:claimsagent_williamscole@yahoo.co.uk<http://us.f397.mail.yahoo.com/ym/Compose?To=EMAIL:claimsagent_williamscole@yahoo.co.uk>
FILL THIS FORM
FULL NAME.................................
WINNING E-MAIL ADDRESS......................
FULL ADDRESS:.......................................
SEX:......................
AGE.................
OCCUPATION...................
TEL....................
CITY...............
STATE...................
COUNTRY.............
Congratulations once more from our members of staff and thank you for
being part of our promotional program. <http://program.mm/>
Anti-fraud resources:
