joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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: "Yahoo Lottery Promotion" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lottery_p@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Thu, 7 Apr 2011 15:41:28 +0700
Subject: Reference no: THB/JA2CT-110P/2011

YAHOO! INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY ORGANIZATION
Yahoo! International Lottery Organization
Bangkok Branch Office Address:
10/15 Convent Road, Silom, Bangrak,
Bangkok 10500, Thailand.
 
Yahoo! Mail announces you as one of the 25 lucky winners in the ongoing 12 Years Yahoo lottery Award of the New Year Held in Bangkok Thailand 2011.
All 25 winning email addresses were randomly selected from a batch of (50,000.000.00) International emails each from Canada, Australia, United States, Asia, Europe, Middle East, Africa and Oceania as part of our International Promotions program which is conducted annually, consequently, you have been approved for a total pay out of TWO MILLION FIVE HUNDRED UNITED STATES DOLLARS ONLY ($2,500.000.000 USD)
 
This Lottery was promoted and sponsored by a conglomerate of some multinational companies as part of their social responsibility to the citizens in the communities where they have operational base.
 
Further more your details(e-mail address) falls within our Bangkok representative office in Bangkok Thailand, as indicated in your play coupon and your prize of ($2,500.000.000 USD) will be released to you from this regional branch office in Bangkok Thailand.
 
Your fund is now deposited with our Bank/Security Company Bangkok Thailand and insured in your name. Due to mix up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this award from public notice until your claim has been processed, and your winning Cheque have being sent to you or remitted to your account, as this is part of our security protocol, to avoid double claiming and unwarranted taking of advantage of this program by participants, as has happened in the past.
 
YAHOO LOTTERY is a free service that does not require you to be a Yahoo!
Registered user.
 
HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE
 
These are your identification numbers.
 
Ticket number.....................085-12876077-09
Serial number.......................51390-0
Lucky number...................03-05-12-14-28-38
Ref number...................N.EGS/3662367114/13
 
Fill the form below and submit in order for our coordinator to contact you on how to redeem your prize.
 
*************************************
Sir. Noah Alexander
Email:  p.codinator@yahoo.com.hk
Telephone number : +66814141374
*************************************
 
You are to send the completed verification form below to enable us process your winning prizes. Congratulations once more!!
 
1. FULL NAME
2. COUNTRY OF ORIGIN
3. PRESENT ADRESS.
4. DATE OF BIRTH
5. SEX
6. OCCUPATION
7. TELEPHONE NUMBER
8. FAX NUMBER
9. MARITAL STATUS
10. WINNING NUMBER, BATCH NUMBER AND LOTTO NUMBER.
 
Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than 14 days of receiving this notification. Any claim not made by this date will be returned to HER MAJESTY'S DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY.
 
CONGRATULATIONS!!! Once again from all members of our staff and thank you for being a part of Yahoo! International Promotions program. We wish you continued good fortunes.
 
Yours Sincerely,
 
Mrs. Akira Itsuki,
Vice President Yahoo! Lotto Org.
Online Coordinator,

Anti-fraud resources: