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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)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- +447045726086 (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.
- lotteryfiduciaryagent_07@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "The Uk National Lottery" <lotteryfiduciaryagent_07@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 01:59:20 +0100
Subject: !!!CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN!!!
FROM THE DESK OF THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL.
Ref Number: NM/BC921245/KY14
BATCH No: NM/207161/WOP
WINNING NOTIFICATION FOR CATEGORY "A" LOTTERY WINNERS ONLY.
ATTENTION:WINNER,
CONGRATULATIONS!!! This is the official result of the UK
INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY AND AWARD 2007, held on 9TH OF JULY
2007. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number:
UK/32944/SL, with Serial number 115320 drew the lucky
numbers: 01-05-06-31-33-41 -15 (bonus no.), You have
therefore been awarded a total sum of £ 500,000.00( FIVE
HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING) incash credited...
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address
and will be transferred to you upon meeting our
requirements, statutory obligations, verifications,
validations and satisfactory report.To file in for the
processing of your prize winnings, you are advised to
contact our Certified and Accredited Fiduciary Agent for
category "A" winners below....
***********************************************
Name Of Fiduciary Officer: DR. GORDON MAYER
THE UK NATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY PROMOTION.
E-mail:lotteryfiduciaryagent_07@yahoo.co.uk
Tel: +44-7045726086
Tel: +44-7031819830
***********************************************
You are advised to provide your fiduciary officer with the
following informations and also call him on the numbers
above for the urgent processing of your winnings:
1.(YOUR FULLNAME)...............................
2.(YOUR SEX)....................................
3.(YOUR ADDRESS)................................
4.(YOUR COUNTRY)................................
5.(YOUR PHONE NUMBER)...........................
6.(YOUR OCCUPATION..............................
7.(YOUR AGE)....................................
8.(MARITAL STATUS)..............................
SPECIAL NOTICE: YOU ARE TO LET US KNOW IMMEDIATELY WHICH OF
THESE MEANS BELOW YOU WISH TO RECEIVE YOUR WINNING:
1.BANK TRANSFER OR,
2.DELIVERY OF YOUR CASHER CHEQUE TO YOU BY OUR AFFILIATED
COURIER COMPANY.
we Await Your swift Response To This Notification Letter.
Best Regards,
Sir(Dr.) Larry Cole
(Co-ordinator).
Anti-fraud resources: