|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "claim 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.
- donhugolucas783@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "EURO INTERNATIONAL" <admin@virtmaster.ru>
Reply-To: donhugolucas783@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2017 16:51:44 +0300
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS
EURO INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAM
Dear Sir/Madam,
Congratulations from Euro International Lottery.
We are pleased to inform you ,that as a result of our RECENT LOTTERY DRAWS
HELD Your Email address attached to ticket number:71-81-94-04-9-56 with
serial number:61240-0 drew lucky numbers:04-14-96-87-45 which consequently
won in the 5th category.
Congratulations as you have been chosen for our NEW YEAR lucky winner for
the year 2017. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum of (NINE
HUNDRED THOUSAND EURO) in cash credited to file with REF:EGS/3662367114/17
For security purpose and clarity we advise that you keep your winning
information confidential before your claims will be processed and your
money remitted to your account. You are also advised to provide your claim
agent with the under listed information as soon as possible send it to his
email address below. kindly make sure you send all replies to this box.
CLAIM AGENT: Mr. Don Hugo Lucas
EMAIL: donhugolucas783@gmail.com
1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax
EMAIL IMMEDIATELY WITH ABOVE EMAIL ADDRESS, please provide him with your
secret batch number which is 900234es; SERIAL NUMBER; 61240-0. All
winnings must be redeemed not later than 7 working days after the date of
this notice.
Congratulations!!!Once more and thank you for being part of our
promotional awards. Bear in mind that 10% of your fund will be going to
the lottery organization that played the lottery with peoples name and
email addresses that should be after you most have received the fund in
your account, the 10% would have been given to them, just because the fund
has been insured and will not be removed till you receive the funds.
Sincerely,
Mr. Don Hugo Lucas
CLAIM AGENT.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
