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:

• 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:
  • "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
  • "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
  • "@lawyer.com" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
• 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!
• Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
• 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.
  • tony-mark-solicitor@lawyer.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Congratulation !! <info1@western.canada.lottery.ca.tt>
Date: Thu, 11 Sep 2008 00:57:21 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Congratulation !!


Western Canada Lottery Corporation
10th Floor, 125 Garry Street
Winnipeg, MB R3C 4J1,
Canada.
E-mail: registry@mail-on.us
http://www.wclc.com

Ref.: 0031G752-07
Batch: 013E966W07

Dear Winner,

This is to inform you of your winning in our Last special Lottery held in August 2008. You are formally approved to receive 620,000,00 (Six Hundred And Twenty Thousand United State Dollars) as prize. No tickets were sold for this, therefore Winners were randomly chosen by an automated system, globally drawn from 700 thousand company and individual e-mail addresses.

You are warned to keep your winning information safely until you have your funds claimed. This is to curb double claiming and undue abuses of this promotional program by unscrupulous individuals.

You are to either;
1. Claim it in person. (You will get instructions on how-to when you contact us at the above e-mail). Or
2. Use service of the below attorney we recommend if you cannot travel due to personal reasons.

Barrister:Tony Mark
Email: tony-mark-solicitor@lawyer.com

To avoid delays, please remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers to the attorney. And also be informed that all winnings must be claimed within THREE weeks from the date of this Notice. All unclaimed prizes will be null and void.
Congratulations once more from our staff members and thank you for being part of our promotional lotto program.

Note: Under 18yrs is automatically disqualified.

Best wishes,

Mrs.Sandra Pare
Management.

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam