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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.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (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.
- releaseresultsdept06@hotmail.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: EURO MILLIONS LOTTERY BOARD <fasttrack4@optusnet.com.au>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:58:22 +1100
Subject: "END OF YEAR PROMOTION"
Ref Number: UK 200-26937
Attention: Email Owner,
We are pleased to notify you once again that your email address
won the EuroMillions International Lottery Promotion held for the
Month of October 2011, You have therefore been approved to claim
the sum of £1,000,000.00.GBP (One Million Great British Pounds)
We are yet to receive your file for Claims.For Due remittance of
funds Contact Claims Agent for your claims with Ticket
No:8603775966738
.
***************************************
Claims Agent Name: Mr.James Richard
Contact Email: releaseresultsdept06@hotmail.co.uk
***************************************
Claims Requirements:
1.Full Name:
2.Residential Address:
3.Age:
4.Sex:
5.Mobil Tel:
6.Occupation:
7.Country Of Residence:
8.Nationality:
9.Amount Won:
10.Alternative Email :
Sorry if you received this letter in your spam,Due to recent
connection error here in england.sorry for the inconvenience.
Congratulations on behalf of British Government Financial
Department.Note:Do not click on the reply botton,your response
must be sent to: releaseresultsdept06@hotmail.co.uk
Congratulations!!
Mrs.Elizabeth James
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Anti-fraud resources:
