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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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 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.
- drc2007@financier.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Victoria Smith" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <victoriasmith1123@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 31 Oct 2013 21:29:30 +0200
Subject: Winner!!
Dear Winner,
Winning Ref No: CA/9420X2/68
Winning Batch No: 074/05/ZY369
This is to inform you that your email address was selected for a cash
prize of Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand Dollars($950,000.00) in the just concluded Canadian Lotto draw held on the 30th October 2013 in Canada.
This was achieved with the assistance of internet marketing firms who
advertised and obtained for us email subscriptions of individuals and
corporations.
CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT FOR CLAIMS,
Agent Name: Christopher Divine
Official Email: drc2007@financier.com
You are to fill the information below to your claims agent;
1.NAMES:
2.ADDRESS:
3.SEX/AGE:
4.COUNTRY:
5.OCCUPATION:
6.TELEPHONE NO:
Regards
Victor Smith
2nd Announcer(Canadian Online Programme).
CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE:
This E-Mail is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to
which it is addressed and may contain information that is privileged,
confidential and exempt from disclosure under applicable laws. If you
have received this communication in error, please do not distribute and
delete the original message. Please notify the sender by E-Mail at the
address shown.Thank you for your compliance
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Anti-fraud resources:
