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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:
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- ",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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
- facebook.cfo.dept@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Facebook International Lottery <info@facebook.org>
Reply-To: facebook.cfo.dept@gmail.com
Date: 4 May 2014 20:03:42 -0300
Subject: Contact Facebook Lottery (CFO DEPT) Immediately......( facebook.cfo.dept@gmail.com )
Facebook Lottery Team
REF: online splash promo.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
We (Facebook Lottery Team) proudly announce! that your E-MAIL ACCOUNT has been selected as one of the lucky winners and has won the sum
$5,000,000.00USD (Five Million United State Dollars ) in the on-going Face-book online award promo.
Your Ticket number is 00545 188 564756.
Prize #77801209/N,
WINNING NUMBER: FB/575061725.
Serial number 5368/02
Lucky numbers: 17 98 09 67 46
All participant were selected through a computer random integrated system drawn in 27 million E-mail address address via the Internet and
lucky winners do not have to purchase any ticket to participate in this lottery program.
Kindly forward below details to the Chief Financial Officer DEPT.
Contact Person: Mr. Paula Wiechert
E-mail: facebook.cfo.dept@gmail.com
==============================
(**) Your Full names:
(**) Your Telephone Number
(**) Your Contact address:
(**) Your Occupation:
(**) Your Country:
(**) Your Age & Sex:
(**) And your lucky number above:
===================================
NOTE: For security reasons and due to the mix-up of some numbers and names, we ask that you keep this notification strictly from public
notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to you.
This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by non-participants of this program.
Yours in service,
Mr.Marc Andreessen
Facebook Lottery Facilitator.
Copyright ©2014 Facebook International Lottery!
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Please do not reply to this message. Mail sent to this address cannot be answered.
SEC Disclaimer: This email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual orentity to whom they are addressed.
Please notify the sender immediately by e-mail if you have received this e-mail by mistake and delete this e-mail from your system.
If you are not the intended recipient you are notified that disclosing, copying, distributing or taking any action in reliance on the contents of this information is
strictly prohibited.
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