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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:
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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 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.
- sslot@winning.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "sunlot" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sunlot1@aim.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Oct 2011 21:39:48 -0000
Subject: VITAL (FOR EMAIL OWNER ONLY) PLEASE PROCEED
" GRACELAND FINANCE INTERNATIONAL"
FROM: THE DESK OF THE DIRECTOR
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT.
HEADQUARTERS: 1A BEXON COURT CARLTON NOTTINGHAM SHIRE NOTTINGHAM
NG4 1SQ ESSEX UNITED KINGDOM.
REF NUMBER: OSL/653/1029/03
BATCH NUMBER: AT-040-SB06-03
AWARD NOTIFICATION
Graceland Finance /Southern Sun Lottery of British International Lottery Program wishes to inform your email account emerged as one of the winners of our recent lottery draws. Your email account was therefore selected as a winner of One Million Five Hundred and Thousand British Pounds Sterling Only (£1,500,000.00).
This result is now made available to you and your email address attached to ticket number 27522465896-532 with serial number 652-662 drew lucky number 7-14-18-23-31-45, which consequently won you the 2nd category. Participants were selected through a computerized ballot system drawn from company and individual email addresses users.
We advice that you keep your winning information confidential until your claims has been processed and your money released to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. For the release of your winnings, kindly contact your claims agent with the
following details to expedite the processing of your prize winning.
1. Full name and address
2. Country of Residence
3. Tel and fax number
4. Occupation and Age
To begin your claim, please contact our Claim Manager at the International Claim Department immediately with the following address below. All winning must be claimed not later than two weeks from the date of receipt of this email. After this date all prize-winning will be treated as Unclaimed.
Mr. C. Robert Smith
Claims Manager
Overseas Subscribers Agent
Email Lottery Promotion Regional Office
62AIslip Road Kent
London OX2 7SP
Untied Kingdom
EMAIL: sslot@winning.com
Note in order to avoid unnecessary delays; remember to quote your Reference and Batch numbers in all correspondence.
Congratulations for emerging the lucky winner from all our staff.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Mercy Wilkinson
Information and Promotion
Manager
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Anti-fraud resources:
