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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:
- "claims office" (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 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Patricia Angello" <info@admin.com>
Reply-To: vmotor11@nokiamail.com
Date: Fri, 8 Feb 2013 10:04:44 -0600
Subject:
You have been selected for a Cash prize of $1,050,000 USD (ONE MILLION &
FIFTY THOUSAND U.S Dollars) in VW Motors Email Promotion International
programs held 2013
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection system (ess) from a database of over 250,000
email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world. The VW Motors
Email Promotion is approved by the National Gaming Board and also Licensed
by the The International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This
promotional car lottery is the tenth of its kind and we intend to
sensitize the public.
To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact your claims
officer through our accredited Prize Transfer agents as stated below:
Mr. Frank Oluwale
Email: vmotor11@nokiamail.com
Telephone: +234-8133-8091-28
CLAIMS REQUIREMENTS:
1. Full names:
2. Residential address:
3. Phone number:
4. Fax number:
5. Occupation:
6. Sex:
7. Age:
8. Nationality:
9. Present Country:
10.Next of kin name/address:
Accept my hearty congratulations once again!
Regards
Mrs. Patricia Angello
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Anti-fraud resources:
