|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <clearancepoint@ymail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2008 18:02:59 +0000
Subject: CHANGE WE NEED........YOU ARE A LUCKY WINNER
Attention Winner,Your Hotmail e-mail id was selected through the computerballot system a winner of our Microsoft online lottery program in partnership with lottolore.You have to contact your claim agent for your payment process.Claims Agent: Prof.Charles WilliamsEmail: clearancepoint002@hotmail.comTel.447045787517Forward to him your claim details below;Ref No.micro234kj20080808Batch number: M/S/9309Lucky No.:
1
15
27
38
40
43 Security code: 676website:http://lottolore.com/super7.htmlAmount Won: $15,000,000.00 (FIFTEEN MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS)You have to contact him not later than three working days.One more time congratulations.Regards,Elvis WestMICROSOFT IN PARTNERSHIP WITH LOTTO.
Anti-fraud resources:
