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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million united states 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)
- 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: "Ms Jeanne Kings" (may be fake)
Date: Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:14:35 -0700
Subject: SOUTH AFRICA 2010
SOUTH AFRICA 2010
WORLD CUP BID
LOTTERY AWARD.
YOU HAVE WON THE COMPUTER BALLOT.THE SUM OF US$ 3 USD FROM THE JUST CONCLUDED SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD .FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE FUND RELEASE SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP BID LOTTERY AWARD. PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION .
Today your e-mail was selected through the computer ballot system, as a winner of the just concluded SOUTH AFRICAN 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY. You have to contact your claim agent for your payment process and include your personal information for smooth transaction.
For verification purpose, forward to him your claim details below;
(1) Your Tel(Mobile):
(2) Your Nationality/Country:
{3} Your Full Names:
{4} Your Occupation
{5} Your Age.
Ref No.06 08 010 19 30 42
Batch number:13/26/DC36.
Security code:676
Amount Won:US $3,000,000.00 (Three million United States Dollars)
Congratulations once again.
Regards,
Ms.Jeanne Kings.
CLAIMS OFFICER
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Anti-fraud resources:
