joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: department_of_finance@live.com
Date: Thu, 6 Nov 2008 23:59:24 -0300
Subject: Congratulations!!!

The National Lottery
P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70
1NL UNITED KINGDOM
(Customer Services)
Ref: UK/9420X2/68 Batch: 074/05/ZY369

Attn:Winner,

We happily announce to you the Draw of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
You have been approved to claim total sum of £250.000 (Two Hundred and
fifty Thousand Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file.
Your Winning Number is 20 21 23 24 27 28 (33).

Our Finance Department will immediately commence the process to
facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact our Finance
Department.

For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to
you in what ever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.

PAYMENT PROCESSING FORM OF BENEFICIARY

NAME..................
ADDRESS...............
COUNTRY...............
OCUPATION:............
ZIP CODE..............
MARITAL STATUS........
PHONE CONTACTS........
EMAIL ADDRESS.........
AMOUNT WON____________

Barr Robin Steward
Email:department_of_finance@live.com
Phone Contact:+447 045 755 108

Yours faithfully,

Mr Revista Caatinga
Online coordinator for UK NATIONAL LOTTERY Sweepstakes International
Program.



Anti-fraud resources: