joewein.de LLC fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter! Free trial for 30 days

"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam

• About the 419 (Advance Fee) scam
• "Is that email a scam?" - Check it online here!
  
• Frequently asked Questions (419 FAQ)
• Phone numbers used by 419 scammers
  (+225 +229 +234 +27 +31 +32 +34 +44 other)
• Company names mentioned in 419 spam:
  1 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
• Support our efforts to stop scams!
  
• How to report 419 spam to us
• What can you do when you receive 419 spam
  
  
• Spam archive, Daily index
  

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.

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:
  • "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
• The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
  • ",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:
  
  1. They don't notify winners by email.
  2. You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
  3. They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
  4. They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
  5. They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
  6. They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
  7. 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.
  • uknational_lotterypromo@yahoo.co.uk

Fraud email example:

From: UK NATIONAL LOTTERY <web@uknl.org> (may be fake)
Reply-To: uknational_lotterypromo@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Wed, 6 Aug 2008 23:01:36 -0500
Subject: Congratulations.........Your E-mail I.D Has Won*****

Dear Winner

We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address have just won you
the sum 1,000,000.00 (One Million Great British Pounds) in UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY PROMO held on the 6th of August 2008.Please contact the due
processing Promotion Manager Mr.Williams Desmond for further details on
how to claim your prize.

Contact Mr. Williams Desmonds with the detail as follow:

Mr William Desmond
Promotion Manager
Uk National Lottery Promo
Contact E-mail: uknational_lotterypromo@yahoo.co.uk

IMPORTANT NOTICE:
You are to send all the following informations to this office for further
procession.

1 Your Names ...................
2 Cell Phone,...................
3 Telephone ......................
4 Fax Numbers.................
5 Home Address OR Office Address..............
6 Quote Amount Won .............
7 Date Of Birth ................
8 Age ..........................
9 Occupation....................
10 Sex...........................
11 Marital Status...............
12 Country .....................

For security reasons, we advice all winners to keep this information
confidential from the public until your claim is processed and your prize
released to you.

Congratulation Once again!!!

Regards
Mr.Terry Coleman

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam