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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "vfone2020@gmx.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: "VODAFONE LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO UK" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <vfone2020@gmx.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Oct 2011 23:07:21 +0800
Subject: Dear winner
Dear Beneficiary, We gladly wish to inform you of the draws held in United Kingdom, by the
VODAFONE INTERNATIONAL ONLINE PROGRAM in conjunction with the National Organizing
Committee of the 2011/2012 up coming Barclays Premier League.You have been approved for a lump
sum pay out of Two Hundred And Thousand Great Britain Pounds(200.000.00 GBP) in cash credited to
file Draw Order Number: D562785, assigned to E-Tag number195.55.24.01 in the Random Computer Selection System(RCSS) of email addresses, flagged out the
lucky numbers 22-1-15-05-11-44 and consequently won you the lottery in the 1st category.
For claims of your winning prize, kindly contact our claim agent officer via below contact information:
1. Full name:......
2. Sex:......
3. Age:......
4. Telephone Number:......
5. Marital Status:......
6. Occupation:......
7. State:......
8. Country:......
Contact Name: Mr. Henry Paulson
Contact Email: vfone2020@gmx.com
Once again congratulations.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs. Elizabeth Cole
Online Co-ordinator.
VODAFONE LOTTERY ONLINE PROMO UK
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Anti-fraud resources:
