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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "viscardteamcenter@focusedonreturns.com" (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: "Sir Paul Woof." <paulwoof@watchtv.net> (may be fake)
Reply-To: viscardteamcenter@focusedonreturns.com
Date: Thu, 03 Mar 2011 01:20:55 -0400
Subject: YOUR REWARDS SWEEP STAKES (VISA CARD PAYMENT)
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VISA CARD PAYMENT (822)
OUR REF: WB/NF/IMF/WA-XX027/N08
It is my pleasure officially to inform you that you were pre-selected
and won the global Visa Card Sweep Stakes conducted from our United
Kingdom office in Lloyds.
The total winnings is $11m USD ;( Eleven Million United State
Dollars).
Your email was randomly selected by the Microsoft Corporation as one
of the Active Internet users for the year 2010 through electronic
ballot system.
Below is your personal identification number
PIN: 2900
You are advised to contact our pay-out account officer via email
Name: Bret Wood (Lloyds; UK office)
Email address: viscardteamcenter@focusedonreturns.com
Your email to him must contain the follow information below to easily
have your winnings mailed out to you if you are not from the United
Kingdom.
Full Name:* Delivery Address:* Age:*Sex* Occupation:* Phone Number:
**Note that you are not spending a DIME/PENNY to receive your lottery
winnings**
They shall also forward your winning certificate and all relative
documents to you.
Regards,
Sir Paul Woof.
Payment Officer
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Anti-fraud resources:
