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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.
- 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.
- harrison.uk101@hotmail.co.uk (Hotmail, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Harrison Martins <capvie@epsm-lille-metropole.fr>
Reply-To: Mr Harrison Martins <harrison.uk101@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:25:48 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Lottery Ticket Number: 78-90-43-82-14-06-29
Dear Winner
This is to inform you that you have won £150,000GBP One Hundred And Fifty Million Great British Pounds Sterling in the on-going Emirate Award Promotion Lotto Jackpot with the Below Winning Number.
File Number: Emirate Award 0082-8954
Lottery Ticket Number: 78-90-43-82-14-06-29
You Won in Batch: A
You are hereby Advice to Contact the Mr Harrison Martins who will process your winning in Batch A.
Name: Mr Harrison Martins
Email: harrison.uk101@hotmail.co.uk
Thanks and Best Regard's
Mr Hoolud Mirage
The Emirate Award Promotion Lotto Jackpot is a registered charity in England and Wales.
* Faites un geste pour l'environnement, n'imprimez que si nécessaire
Ce message éléctronique est protégé par les règles relatives au secret des correspondances.
Si vous n'êtes pas destinataire de ce message merci de le détruire et d'avertir l'expéditeur de l'erreur de distribution.
Pour votre sécurité ce message a été analysé par un anti-virus à jour à la date d'envoi.
Site : http://www.epsm-lille-metropole.fr
10/30/13 14:25:52
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Anti-fraud resources:
