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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.
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <denbroederdavid@yahoo.cn>
Date: Wed, 14 Dec 2011 16:52:52 -0500
Subject: BMW Xmas Promotion
BMW MOTOR AWARDS
Osprey House Richmond Road
Llanion Park Pembroke Dock
SA72 6TS UK.
We are pleased to inform you of the release of the long awaited results of the BMW CAR XMAS PROMOTION PROGRAM held on the 14th of DECEMBER 2011. You were entered as dependent clients with: Ticket number: 42845 and Promotional code: 76456321/BMW. You have been approved for a payment of £450,000.00 (four hundred and fifty thousand Great British Pounds) and a brand new BMW 5 Series Car. FedEx has been contracted to handle the delivery of your winnings (FOC) free of charge. But before the delivery of your winnings will commence, contact IBTC Insurance Company and insure your winnings
You are hereby requested to contact the IBTC Insurance company and acquire a third party/fire and theft insurance which will cost you $170.00 USD (One hundred and seventy US Dollars) in case of any future eventuality. Be informed that you will be required bear the cost of this insurance cover. If you still want to claim your winnings do contact them with the below information.
IBTC Insurance Company
ibtclimited@live.com
You are also advised to provide them with the under listed information:
1. Name in full.
2. Address in full.
3. Nationality & Present Country.
4. Age.
5. Phone /Fax /Sex.
On behalf of every staff of the BMW GROUP OF COMPANY, we say Merry Xmas in Advance.
Program Coordinator
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Anti-fraud resources:
