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.
• 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.
  • paulovan2@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Wed, 15 Oct 2008 06:16:06 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: CONGRATULATION



EU NATIONAL LOTTERY PROMO 2008
Liaison Office Berlin-Germany
Email:paulovan2@yahoo.co.uk
From: Miss Ashley Brown.
(Promotion Department)
 
Sir/Madam,
 
We are please to announce you as one of the 6 lucky winners in the
European Union National lottery Ballot Draws. All 6 winning addresses were
randomly selected from a batch of 30,000 email addresses.
Your email address emerged alongside 5 others under our promotional B
draws. Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total pay out
of (USD$2,810.000) TWO MILLION,EIGHT HUNDRED AND TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS).
The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:
 
(i) Winning numbers: 10,18,25,28,34,49,(60)
(ii) Email ticket number: 32-1-431
(iii) Reference Number: EUNL/05/UKE321
(iv) International Lottery Code Number: EUNL/004-BT
 
To commence processing of your winnings/transfer of winning sum, you must
forward a copy of this email to our Claims Department. contact details
below, for further informatin, and immediate processing and release of
your winning sum.
Contact the claims department with the following:
 
Director (Cliams Department)
Contact Person: Richard Van Oppen
Email:paulovan2@yahoo.co.uk
Congratulations once again.
N.B:1.All claims are nullified after 10 working days from today.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have received this email, it mean you are one of the recent winners
from our random lottery ballot system draws, however, if you feel you have
been selected in error please visit the link below to unsubscribe from our
selected winners list

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam