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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "uknattloto@live.co.uk" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "uknattloto@live.co.uk" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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: "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <uknattloto@live.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 14 May 2010 02:19:18 +0100
Subject: online winning notification
Uk National Lottery
Ref: L/200-26937
Batch: 2010MJL-10
Email:uknattloto@live.co.uk
ONLINE WINNING NOTIFICATION
Dear Winner
We are pleased to inform you of May, 2010 result of the winners of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO PROGRAMME, held on the 13th of May 2010.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers: 4-12-14-20-46-49(bonus No. 24), which
subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 5 plus bonus.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of £500.000.00 (Five Hundred Thousand Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file XYL/26510460037/06.
To file for your claim, please contact our claims agent;
NAME: Philip Hampton
Email:uknattloto@live.co.uk
Provide her with the following informations:
Full Name:
Telephone Number:
Address:
Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Sincerely,
SUSAN OXFORD
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY
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Anti-fraud resources:
