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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:
- "claimsdept@foxmail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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: "Franklyn Van Der Weijden" <info@amsternetwind.info>
Reply-To: claimsdept@foxmail.com
Date: Thu, 10 Jul 2014 18:41:03 -0500
Subject: Grand Donation
De (Netherlands) Lotto NL
Ref: AML/JP/1925Mill/2014/702
Batch: AM/70/4210
Congratulations!!
We are happy to announce to you the result of electronic email Address
balloting system of De (Netherlands) Lotto NL draw held on 9th July, 2014
in Amsterdam. All email addresses were selected through a computer ballot
system in which
your email address was selected as one of the lucky winners.
Please be advised to keep your winning information confidential until your
claim has been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of
our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of
this programmed by fraudulent scammers.
We wish to inform you that your email addresses have won €1,925,000 Only
(One Million, Nine Hundred and Twenty-Five Thousand Euros Only) from the
Asian International Lottery Programmed with Ref: AML/JP/1925Mill/2014/702.
You are therefore advised to contact our payment Office where your winning
balloting numbers fall for payment.
Best Regards.
Mr. Kurt Reuther
Tel: +31-208-932537
Fax: +31-844-380016
Email: Claimsdept@foxmail.com.
Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of our email
account user programmed.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Franklyn Van Der Weijden
Promotions Manager/Prize Announcer
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Anti-fraud resources:
