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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand us dollars" (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)
- 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: "MRS. ALICE PAUL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frank@barid.com>
Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 13:35:09 -0700
Subject: YOUR E-MAIL HAS WON YOU $200,000
AMOUNT WON ($200,000.00 USD)
Ticket/Code Number: 154-12872774-09
Claim/Ref No.: Y.TILB/6362362114
Lucky Number: 27-50-23-94-66-40
DEAR WINNER,
WE ARE PLEASED TO INFORM YOU ABOUT THE UK INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY DRAW HELD IN TURKISH TRADE FAIR ON THE 23RD OF MAY 2013 FROM THE SWEEPSTAKE UK INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAMMED COMPANY OFFICIAL PROMOTION PRIZE AWARD. YOUR E-MAIL EMERGED AS A WINNER OF $200.000.00 USD (Two Hundred Thousand US Dollars Only) IN THIS YEARS UK RESULT 2013 INTERNATIONAL LOTTO PROGRAM.
THIS LOTTERY WAS PROMOTED AND SPONSORED BY A CONGLOMERATE OF SOME MULTINATIONAL COMPANIES AS PART OF THEIR SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY TO THE CITIZENS IN THE COMMUNITIES WHERE THEY HAVE OPERATIONAL BASE
NOTE. YOUR WINNING MONEY WILL BE GET TO YOU THROUGH A CUSTOM PIN BASED VISA CREDIT CARD ATM CARD WITH A MAXIMUM WITHDRAWAL LIMIT OF $75,000 A DAY WHICH IS POWERED BY VISA CARD AND CAN BE USED ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD FOR WITHDRAW OR TRANSACTION, THROUGH OUR ZONE HEADQUARTERS IN ISTANBUL TURKEY AS YOUR WINNING FILES FALL UNDER OUR BRANCH ZONE. SO CONTACT OUR TURKEY AGENT COORDINATOR AGENT MR. FRANK EDRIS WHICH YOUR WINNING NUMBERS FALL IN HIS CUSTODY, HE IS OUR REPRESENTING AGENT IN TURKEY HE WILL GIVE YOU DETAILS ON HOW TO CLAIM YOUR PRIZE.
PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS EMAIL. CONTACT YOUR
CLAIMS AGENT
AT: EMAIL (edris1@barid.com)
AGENT: MR. FRANK EDRIS
TURKEY REPRESENTING LOTTERY AGENT.
FILL THIS FORM BELOW AND SEND IT TO HIM THROUGH HIS EMAIL TO FILE FOR YOUR CLAIM (edris1@barid.com)
AMOUNT WON.................................
CLAIM/REF NO...............................
FULL NAME...................................
HOME ADDRESS.................................
RESIDENTIAL COUNTRY.................
NATIONALITY..................................
OCCUPATION..................................
PRIVATE TELEPHONE.............................
RELIGION.....................................
PRIVATE EMAIL..................................
AGE...........................................
SEX...........................................
DON'T FORGET TO QUOTE YOUR WINNING REFERENCE NUMBER IN ANY OF YOUR CORRESPONDENCE
Ref No.: Y.TILB/6362362114.
SIGNED.
ALICE PAUL (MRS)
LOTTERY COORDINATOR
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Anti-fraud resources:
