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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:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- "uk national lottery inc." (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- +447031958766 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +448704797774 (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.
- petersonkhumalo101@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "john kouma" <john_kou9@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 01 Jun 2007 14:40:10 +0100
Subject: BERTRAND WINNING NOTIFICATION
United kingdom on-line Lottery International
Brookmount House,
62-65 Chandos Place,
Covent Garden,
London, WC2N 4LP
(Customer Services)
Date:1st June 2007
WINNING NOTIFICATION:
Ref: UKL/04210X2/65
Batch: 0741/060/GY369Dear Winner-Bertrand, |
We happily announce to you the draw (#514) of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, online Sweepstakes International program held on 31st May 07. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers 
which subsequently won you the lottery of the Jackpot Prize. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of £150,000.00 (One hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling) in cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system and extracted from over100, 000 unions, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online. This promotion takes place weekly.
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our United kingdom booklet representative office in South Africa as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your £150,000.00 would be released to you by any of our payment offices in UNITED KINGDOM.
Our agent will immediately commence the process to facilitate the release of your funds as soon as you contact him.Contact our claim agent.
NAME: MR.PETERSON KHUMALO.
TEL: +44-703-195-8766
FAX: +44-870-479-7774
EMAIL:petersonkhumalo101@yahoo.com
Our winners are assured of the utmost standards of confidentiality, and press anonymity until the end of proceedings, and beyond where they so desire. Be further advised to maintain the strictest level of confidentiality until the end of proceedings to circumvent problems associated with fraudulent claims. This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program.
Goodluck from me and members of staff of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
James Sylvester.
Online coordinator
UK NATIONAL LOTTERY,
Sweepstakes International Program.
Open 7 days 8am-8pm
Play your part in making history - Email Britain!
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Anti-fraud resources:
