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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- 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.
- +447035916615 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: pgaclaims11@live.com
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 22:58:35 GMT
Subject: {Spam?}
PEUGEOT AUTOMOBILES PROMOTION
Peugeot Auto-mobiles Promotion Headquarters
Essex=2C PE9 2YP=2C London United Kingdom=2E
Secret Pin No=3A PGA00111234
Reference Number=3A PGA12058006/08
This email is to inform you that your email address just won you =
=A3500=2C000=2E00 GBP (Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds) =
and the new 2008 Model Peugeot 407 car in the ongoing Peugeot =
Automobiles end of year anniversary promotion draws held today=2E
=
Contact the fiduciary agent with contact information stated below=3A
=
--- Full name and address=2E
--- Tel/ fax number=2E Sex/Age
--- Marital Status/Occupation=2E
--- Country/City=2E
=
Mr=2E David Correlas=2C =
Tel=3A +(44) 703 591 6615
Contact email=3A pgaclaims11=40live=2Ecom
Claims agent
Peugeot Automobiles Annual Promotion
Anti-fraud resources:
