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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:
- "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.
- frankmartins447@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: HEINEKEN COMPANY <unitedn586@gmail.com>
Reply-To: frankmartins447@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 12 Aug 2019 10:07:01 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE WON $5,000.000.00USD
HEINEKEN BOTTLING COMPANY
ANTHONIE VAN DIJCKERWEG
11078 AMSTERDAM
NETHERLANDS
Website: http://www.heineken.nl
Dear Lucky Winner,
We are delighted to inform you the result of the annual final draws of
Heineken Annual Promo that your E-mail address emerged as one of the
Four (4) lucky winners through the selection of emails address in the
fourth category to receive $5,000.000.00USD with the following data:
Ref Number: ASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Batch Number: HGL-14/28/0046
Ticket Number: 025-11464992-750
You are required to send your:
Name:____________
Age:______________
Sex:_______________
Address:___________
Phone:___________
Occupation:____________
Nationality:__________
Country:_________
Send your above information to your claim agent: Dr. Philemon and also
quote your Ref Number, Batch Number and your Ticket Number to receive
your prize.
Agent name claims: Dr. Frank Martins
Email :( frankmartins447@gmail.com )
Dr. Frank Martins will forward your details to the authorized paying
bank where your won prize money was deposited to enable fund release
to you immediately by bank without any delay.
Yours faithfully,
HEINEKEN Games Promo/Lottery Coordinator.
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Anti-fraud resources:
