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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:
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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)
- "headquater" (this email uses bad English)
- 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: "PEUGEOT AOMOBILES" <info@winner.com>
Reply-To: peageot.customerassistant@cyberservices.com
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:13:06 -0400
Subject: Fwd pin code: PGA36055288
PEUGEOT AUTOMOBILES LOTTERY
Peugeot Auto-mobiles headquaters, 19 Ul,
Essex , PE9 2YP , London
United Kingdom.
www.Peugeot.com.
2012 AWARD PRIZE NOTIFICATION.
This is to notify you that your email have been selected by our random
email selector mechine for a cash prize of £700,000.00 (Seven Hundred
Thousand Great British Pounds) and a brand new Peugeot 4008 Car,From
the International online programs held on the 20th of March 2012 in
London the United Kingdom .
To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact the remittance
department with the emails address provided below through our accredited
Prize Transfer agents as stated below:
Sir Don Jackson
E-mail:
peageot.customerassistant@cyberservices.com
Contact him with your secret pin code PGA36055288 and your reference
number PGA: KL508470/01.You are also advised to provide him with the
under listed information as soon as possible:
Claims Requirements:
1. Name in full
2. Address:
3. Sex:
4. Nationality/Religion:
5. Maritual Status:
6. Age=
7. Next Of Kin:
8. Occupation:
9. Phone/Fax:
10. Present Country:
Winners are advised to keep their winning details/information from the
public to avoid fraudulent claim (IMPORTANT) pending the transfer/claim by
Winner.
*Winner under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified. *Staff of the
Peugeot Company world wide is not to partake in this Car Promotional
Lottery.
congratulations once again!
With Best Regards
Mr. Don Jackson
Lottery Manager.
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Anti-fraud resources:
