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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:
- 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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +34691750229 (Spain, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- luiseguros@aol.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: zaragoz award loteria <EURO_LOTTO33@web.de>
Date: Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:12:16 +0200
Subject: YOU WON
YOU WON
Hello Winner,
You won 615,960,00 in an Email Loteria Shop Award Español promotions
june 10th 2008. We officially notify you of this award and advise you
to Contact your claim agent below:-
Mudial Finacial Seguros, s.a
Contact person: Mr. luis Mathew,
Tel: +34-691-750-229
email: luiseguros@aol.com [mailto:luiseguros@aol.com]
NOTE: to file for your claim, contact the claim department below on
email or phone:-
Find below your promotion datas, Reference, Batch, and lucky numbers,
Remember to quote your name and these numbers in your correspondence
with your claims agent.
REF NO: LAE/3448-26/18
LUCKY NUMBER: File/124/2765
BATCH NUMBER: ILC/342/315
WINNING NO: 0305/1721 ES
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or entity
to whom or which is addressed unauthorised use, disclosure or copying
is highly prohibited. The sender accepts no liability for the improper
transmission of communication.
Sincerely Yours,
MR. J. W. Zaragoza
(general cordinator)
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Anti-fraud resources: