joewein.net   joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days
  jwSpamSpy

Home
About Us
Spam
419/Nigeria
Fraud
Contact

"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:

Fraud email example:

From: "microsoft sweepstakes promotion" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <foreigntransfermanager@superposta.com>
Date: Tue, 21 Aug 2012 05:35:10 -0700
Subject: official winning notification


MICROSOFT CORPORATIONS:
CUSTOMER SERVICES
YOUR REFERENCE NO: MSFT-P/2564-26957
YOUR BATCH NO: JUN-B34543


OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION.

We are pleased to inform you of the release of the long awaited results of
Online promotion organized by Microsoft, in conjunction with the foundation for
the promotion of software products, (F.P.S..) held this August 2012,in London United Kingdom.
Where in your email address emerged as one of the online Winning emails
in the 2nd category and therefore attracted a cash award of 250,000.00GBP(Two
Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great British Pound) and a Dell Laptop.


To begin your claim, do file for the release of your winning by contacting via
e-mail our Foreign Transfer Manager

Mr. Marcel Alloy (foreign Transfer Manger)
Email: foreigntransfermanager@superposta.com


The Microsoft Internet E-mail lottery Awards is sponsored by our
CEO/Chairman,Bill Gates and a consortium of software promotion companies. The
Intel Group,Toshiba, Dell Computers and other International Companies. The
Microsoft internet E-mail draw is held periodically and is organized to
encourage the use of the Internet and promote computer literacy worldwide.

Congratulations!!!

Sincerely,
Mrs. Maria Alejandro
Promotions Manager.

Anti-fraud resources: