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 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)
• 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 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.
  • +447045798878 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)

Fraud email example:

From: =?utf-8?q?sr=20john=20williams?= <srjohn.williams@yahoo.com.co>
Reply-To: infomicrosoftlotto2007@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:26:50 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: ATTAINTION BENEFICIARY


¡Tengo nueva dirección de correo!Ahora puedes escribirme a:srjohn.williams@yahoo.com.co



- Swiss lotto ct ddress,Bunderstrasse 333324 Bern Eck, Switzerland Dear You have just won 4,000,000 Euro (FOUR MILLION EURO) in an internet lottery in which -mail address was picked randomly by software powered by the Internet through the worldwide website. This promo is sponsored by the Swiss lottery organization. Your email address, attached to JOKER NUMB Swiss Lottery Winner, ER: 113620 , with EXTRA JOKER NUMBER: 079314 dproudlyrew the SWISS LOTTO WINNING NUMBER: 3111631333529 Replay 4 , and consequently won the lottery in the "A" Category. All participants were selected randomly from World Wide Web site through computer draw System and extracted from over 300,000 companies and individual email addresses.For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to you in whatever manner you deem fit to Claim your prize.To file for your claim, please contact our trusted agent:Name: sir williams Email_ sirwilliams_994yahoo.com Telephone Number : +44 70457 98878

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam