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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- claims.dept1@linuxmail.org (Linuxmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Vauxhall Motors Lottery <alex1951@ukrpost.ua>
Date: Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:33:17 +0200 (EET)
Subject: Attention: Email Owner
Ref Number: UK 200-26937
Attention: Email Owner,
We are pleased to notify you once again that your email address won the Vauxhall Motors UK Lottery Promotion held, you have therefore been approved to claim the sum of $1,000,000.00 (One Million dollars) we are yet to receive your file for Claims. For Due remittance of funds Contact Claims Agent for your claims with Ticket No: 8603775966738
Claims Officer Contact information below:
***************************************
Claims Agent Name: Mr. John Powell
Contact Email:claims.dept1@linuxmail.org
***************************************
Claims Requirements:
1. Full Name:
2. Tel:
3. Current Residential Address:
Sorry if you received this letter in your spam, Due to recent connection error here in England.
Congratulations on behalf of Vauxhall Motors UK Financial Department. Note: Do not click on the reply botton, your response must be sent to: claims.dept1@linuxmail.org
Congratulations!!
Mrs. Elizabeth Price
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Anti-fraud resources:
