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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:
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- 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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- 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.
- atm.agentmark54@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Joy Walker" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <atm.agentmark54@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 06:40:05 -0800
Subject: COCA COLA COMPANY PROMOTION
COCA COLA COMPANY PROMOTION
AVENUE STAMFORD BRIDGE WEST AFRICAN.
SW1V 3DW ABUJA NIGERIA.Coca-Cola Donation PINCODE: *N65479*
Qualification number: N-910-59
Congratulation Winner,
Your email address won a lottery cash prize Check of sum of $950.000.00 US DOLLARS in the 1st quarter Promotion of 2011 Coca Cola International Email / draw today
and your lucky draw numbers are 02 06 08 09 36 39 bonus 29. Kindly check
It is pending for your collection kindly Contact
COCA COLA PROMOTION MANGER IN PERSON OF
MR.Mark Jones
ABUJA, NIGERIA.
E-mail: atm.agentmark54@gmail.com
Telephone:+234-810-318-2780
with the below information for your claim of your Check worth the sum of $950.000.00 US DOLLARS
1. Full Name ---
2. Phone no ----
3. Address -----
4. Country -----
5. Age:
6. Occupation:----
Best Regards
Mrs. Joy Walker
DIRECTOR HEAD OFFICE OF COCA COLA WEST AFRICAN .
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Anti-fraud resources:
