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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- 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.
- +447011198599 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +447005938564 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- euromillionswins@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Euro Millions Lottery International <euromillionswins@euromillions.com>
Reply-To: euromillionswins@aim.com
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 05:56:20 +0530
Subject: YOU ARE A WINNER!!
Euro Millions Lottery International
Winning number: EURO/96B-672GH/L
WEBSITE: http://www.euro-millions.com/
E-mail: euromillionswinnersfile2010@euromil-lot.com
Congratulations Lucky Winner,
The Board of Directors and the International Promotion Department of EuroMillions Lottery International in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme wish to gladly inform you that your email has won the prize money of Two Million Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds Sterling (£2,500,000.00GBP) in our 2010 Online Euro Millions Lottery International promotion.
This program is aimed at encouraging the union and also help families with the current Global crisis all over (Europe, American, Asia and Africa), hence no tickets were sold. Your Email address was polled alongside millions of other Emails and your Email address was luckily polled .
You are a bonafide Winner.
To claim your winning prize you are to send the following information about yourself to the claims processing manager for verification and authentication.
Congratulations once again.
Furnish your Fiduciary agent with the following:
FULL NAMES:
CONTACT ADDRESS(including zip-code):
DATE OF BIRTH:
HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER:
CELLULAR TELEPHONE NUMBER:
SEX:
PRESENT OCCUPATION:
NATIONALITY:
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:
ALTERNATE EMAIL:
SEND VIA EMAIL TO:
Claims Processing Manager: Mr. Carl Ashworth
E-mail: euromillionswins@aim.com
Contact Number:+4470 1119 8599
Fax: +4470 0593 8564
Congratulations once again from the entire members of staff.
Wishing you the very best.
Mrs. Theresa Thorn.
Online Co-ordinator.
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Anti-fraud resources: