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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:
- 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:
- "i have a new email address!" (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- 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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- freejackpot99@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- topeterhe@gmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 14:48:09 -0800 (PST)
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
I have a new email address!You can now email me at: freejackpot99@yahoo.com
Reference: R00055646765
Batch: B11925257487
- This is to notify you that you have won 270 Thousand Euro in our email lottery program in which e-mail addresses were picked randomly by a computerized balloting, powered by the Internet. Your email address was amongst those chosen at this period.If you are unable to come to due to a genuine reason then use the service of the recommended attorney below:Mr. Peter Henry, ESQ Email: (topeterhe@gmail.com)Keep your prize information safely until your claim is processed. To avoid delays and complications, remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers to the attorney if you chose to use his service
Anti-fraud resources:
