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:
  • "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
• 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.
  • mcgrant43@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:52:15 +0100
Subject: LOTTO NOTIFICATION!!! PLEASE CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT

Loterie Romande
Rue Marterey13,
1002 Lausanne,
Switzerland.

Reference number: LR/19-CH/9642,
Batch: LR/07/18

Congratulations!

You are hereby notified that your email identity has won EUR
1 000 000
(One million Euro) after our final email draws conducted
last week.Your
email ID was attached to serial number : 25-6395 and drew
the winning
numbers; 4.36.18.2.31.39

Please contact your assigned release manager, Mr.Mac Grant
by his email
below;

Mr.Mac Grant
Foreign Services Manager,
Information and Payment Bureau. London Representative
Office.
Phone: 00 44 702 403 5806,
Fax: 00 44 870 479 4098
Email: mcgrant43@gmail.com

for more information and release details.

To avoid delays and complications, please endeavour to quote
your
reference and batch numbers in every correspondence with
your claims
agent

Yours truly,
Mr.Jean-Piere Beuret,
Promotions Manager,
Loterie Romande'

Anti-fraud resources:

• What can you do when you receive 419 spam