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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:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million pounds" (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)
- "(ecowas)" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "aaronmaxwell@w.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "aaronmaxwell@w.cn" (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: "Mr. Aaron Maxwell" <aaronmaxwell@w.cn>
Date: Fri, 27 Aug 2010 10:52:25 +0100
Subject: Dear Esteemed Beneficiary
Dear Esteemed Beneficiary
Congratulations!I am Mrs Ana Torres You have just been selected as the one
of the beneficiaries
from the The Rothschild Foundation (Europe) in conjunction with the Economic
Community for West African States (ECOWAS), United Nations Organization
(UNO)
to claim a total sum of GBP£1,000,000.00 (One Million Pounds Sterling),as
part
of the celebration of the 9th anniversary program. Please endeavor to quote
your Award Reference number (ROT/2010-002/UK) when making claims to our Chief
Finance Officer;
Contact Name: Mr. Aaron Maxwell
Contact Email: aaronmaxwell@w.cn
On behalf of the Board, kindly accept our warmest congratulations.
Regards,
Foundation Officer.
Please again reply to this claims office: aaronmaxwell@w.cn
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Anti-fraud resources:
