joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Bryan Smith" <ade@millsterltd.com>
Reply-To: bryan_smith02@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 06:30:48 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS **YOU ARE A WINNER**




THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
UK HEAD OFFICE
26 HAMILTON ROAD
CENTRAL LONDON
ENGLAND


Dear Winner,

We are please to announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the FreeLotto draw held on the 1st of august 2008. All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 50,000,000 international emails.Your email address emerged alongside 9 others as a category 2 winner in this year's Annual FreeLotto Draw.

Consequently,you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of 25,000 pounds (twenty five thousand pounds) only.The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:

(i) winning numbers: 46-13-29-45-23-19
(ii) email ticket number: FL754/54/86
(iii) lotto code number: FL03542UK
(iv) the file Ref number: FL/04/280649035/UK

Please contact the underlisted claims officer as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winnings:

Mr. Bryan Smith
TEL: +447031818891
email: bryan_smith09@yahoo.com

N.B:Steps to claiming your prize;

1.Winners must pay 250 pounds only or its equivalent in your local currency as fee before claiming their prize for the processing and handling of award by agent.

2.Please quote your Reference number in all correspondence with the claims officer.

3.Winners should send to claim officer account detail or address
where they want their prize paid or sent.

4.Winners must send thier names,address,telephone number
and means of identification (international passport or drivers
licence)to claim officer, via email or fax, to process the immediate payment of your prize.

Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!!

Sincerely,
Bryan Smith.
Promotions Manager
Freelotto Company, UK.
UK & Europe.

Anti-fraud resources: