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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")
- 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.
- paulben180@yahoo.co.uk (Yahoo, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Sergey White " <sergey.white@ukrpost.ua>
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2012 13:44:54 +0300 (EEST)
Subject: lucky winners in This category i.e. Match 5 plus bonus.
TICKET NO: 86942857897
REF NO: ML/568778M1/95
BATCH NO: 045/874/ML10
FINAL NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the final announcement today, 1St of June 2012 of winners of the MICROSOFT ON-LINE PROMO PRO-GRAMME, held onthe 31th of May, 2012.
You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of 1.5 Million GBP (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Pound Sterling) in cash credited to file MNL/26345678038/10.This is from a total cash prize of 1.5 Million GBP (One Million Five Hundred Thousand Pound Sterling) shared amongst the first ten
(10) lucky winners in This category i.e. Match 5 plus bonus.
To file for your claim, please contact our claims agent:
Dr. Paul Ben
Email: paulben180@yahoo.co.uk
Provide him with the information below:
1. Full Name:
2. Full Address:
3. Marital Status:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
6. Sex:
7. Nationality:
8. Country of Residence:
9. Telephone Number:
For due processing and remittance of your prize money. Congratulations Once more from all members and staffs of this program. Thank you for being part of our on-line promotional lottery program.
Yours Truly,
Sergey White
Online Coordinator for the Microsoft National Lottery.
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Anti-fraud resources:
