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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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)
- 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.
- +447045711819 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "POWERBALL CLAIMS DEPARTMENT" <hoteleuropa@mundivia.es>
Reply-To: powerball1907@live.com
Date: Sun, 14 Feb 2010 02:01:55 -0000 (GMT)
Subject: Congratulations!!!
Attn Prize Winner,
This is to inform you that your email has won a consulation prize in the
Powerball Online Lottery EMAIL DRAW. Your email has won you
(£500,000.00GBP) Five Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds),
Which took place at our head-office in LONDON,ENGLAND. For
further information please contact the officer in-charge, to claim your
prize, please contact your fiduciary agent Sam Littlewood(MR) with your
Batch#:409978E and Ref#:BTD/9080648302/07 and contact him via email
immediately
within 24hrs with the following details below.
=============================================================
CERTIFICATE OF PRIZE CLAIM(Receipt Official Notification Letter).
==============================================================
1. Full Name................
2. Country..................
3. Contact Address..........
4. Telephone Number.........
5. Fax Number...............
6. Marital Status...........
7. Occupation...............
8. Age......................
9. Sex......................
10. Batch#:409978E
11.Ref#:BTD/9080648302/07
You are advise you contact your claims agent so that he or she can provide
you with the details requried for transfer process.
Note: Please be inform that you are responsible for any fee.
BANK PAYMENT ONLINE TRANSFER
CONTACT DETAIL:
Mr.Sam Littlewood
EMAIL:powerball1907@live.com
Phone Number:+44 70457 11819
POWERBALL CLAIMS DEPARTMENT
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Anti-fraud resources: