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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:

Fraud email example:

From: "FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fbi539@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Mar 2011 14:20:48 -0400
Subject: *Alert*

 

FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION

Anti-Terrorist and International Fraud Division

601 4th Street NW, Washington, DC 20535

 

Attn: Beneficiary                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            th

 

RE: AUTHETICATED LOTTERY WINNINGS

 

This is to officially inform you that it has come to our notice and I have thoroughly completed an Investigation with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring Network System that you legally won the sum of $1,000,000.00 US Dollars from the Mega Millions Lottery® draw held on Fri-01/07/2011 through an online balloting system. During our investigation it was discovered that tickets were purchased by marketing companies here in the United States and around the world on behalf of all email account holders that are currently subscribed to newsletters and advertisements, therefore your email address won the Lottery from the online balloting system. The issue was brought before the board and we authorized this winning to be authentic and paid to you via a SunTrust Bank MasterCard® Check Card. Typically, it will take up to 20 business days for an unverified Check Card to be shipped and activated in any bank within the United States, But we have successfully come to an agreement with this lottery organization on your behalf that funds are to be drawn from a bank registered to the lottery organization so as to enable you receive and activate your check card instantly within 24 hours. They complied with our request and the amount of $1,000,000.00 US Dollars was deposited with SunTrust® Bank yesterday.

 

We have completed this investigation and you are hereby approved to receive the winning prize as we have verified the entire transaction to be Legitimate, Safe and 100% risk free. Due to the fact that the funds have been deposited at SunTrust® Bank you will be required to settle the following bills directly to your lottery claims agent in-charge of this transaction. According to our records, you are required to pay for the following:

 

(1) Cost of Transfer (0.01% off the Principal Sum; for the international deposit into SunTrust® Bank)

(2) MasterCard® Check Card Conversion Fee (Fee for issuance of the EFT into a Check Card)

(3) Cost of Delivery (Shipping and Handling, High priority mail – UPS)

 

The total amount is $299.99 (Two Hundred & Ninety Nine United States Dollars & Ninety Nine Cents). We have tried our possible best to have the lottery organization deduct the $299.99 from your lottery winning but the funds have already been deposited at the bank and cannot be accessed by anyone apart from you (the winner). Therefore you will be required to pay the needed funds to your lottery claims Agent in charge of this transaction. The payment will NOT reflect at the paying bank with the given transaction code (US-012889) until you have covered the processing fees needed for approval.

Agent Contact Details: Name: Lisa Johnson Email: jlsjhnsn81@aol.com Phone/Fax: (866) 773-1930

 

In order to proceed with this transaction, Click Here to contact your claims agent Lisa S. Johnson. You may be required to call her for verbal verification and e-mail her with the following information:

 

·         FULL NAME:

·         LOCAL ADDRESS (INCLUDING CITY/STATE/ZIPCODE):

·         AGE/GENDER/OCCUPATION:

·         CONTACT PHONE NUMBERS (CELL & HOME):

 

You will also be required to request details on how to pay up the required $299.99 in order to immediately ship your prize of $1,000,000.00 US Dollars in the form of a SunTrust MasterCard® Check Card. Also include the following transaction code in order for her to immediately identify this transaction: US-012889. This letter will serve as proof that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is authorizing you to pay the required $299.99 ONLY to your claims agent to the information she will send you upon your request. Once again this transaction has been “VERIFIED” and is under our 24hr surveillance every step of the way.

 

All winnings must be claimed not later than ASAP. In order to avoid unnecessary delay and complications leading from unsuccessful participants, please remember to quote your transaction number in all correspondences as well as keep them safe and away from 2nd or 3rd parties.

 

NOTE: In order to ensure your check card gets delivered to you ASAP, you are advised to contact Lisa S. Johnson and not reply this message.

 

****** A copy of your winning ticket is attached to this e-mail as proof of authenticity ******

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