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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:
- "hundred thousand united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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: CONGRATULATIONS ON COCA-COLA OFFICIAL SPONSORSHIP OF RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 PROMOTIONS <ccaward019@gmail.com>
Reply-To: releasingmanagero0@outlook.com
Date: Fri, 25 Sep 2015 02:38:05 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS ON COCA-COLA OFFICIAL SPONSORSHIP OF RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 PROMOTIONS.
COCA-COLA COMPANY PROMOTIONS
PROTEA HOUSE 187 BERG STREETS, P.O. BOX 2838 PIETERMARITZBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
CONGRATULATIONS ON COCA-COLA OFFICIAL SPONSORSHIP OF RUGBY WORLD CUP 2015 PROMOTIONS:
You have Won the Sum of $500,000.00 USD {Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars Only} From our Coca-Cola Promotion 2015 on RUGBY WORLD CUP with Reference Number (SA111). So you are requested to contact our Releasing Manager by name Mrs. Precious Jacobs immediately.
NAMES: MRS. PRECIOUS JACOBS
TELEPHONE NUMBER: +27789031124
POSITION HELD: RELEASING MANAGER
EMAIL ADDRESS: releasingmanagero0@outlook.com
You are hereby advised to fill the below personal information’s, to enable a swift process and send your reply to: releasingmanagero0@outlook.com
NOTE: For claims and payment of your winning prize we need your below personal details:
1: FULL NAMES: ……………………….
2: GENDER: …………………………..
3: COUNTRY OF RESIDENT: ……………………….
4: FULL ADDRESS: ……………………………..
5: MOBILE NUMBER: …………………………..
6: PROFESSION: …………………………..
7: MARITAL STATUS: ………………………….
8: A COPY OF YOUR INTERNATIONAL PASSPORT OR ID:……………………………..
Once again congratulations to you for have been part of this great promotion.
Dr. Silas Martins,
(Admin Secretary)
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Anti-fraud resources:
