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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:
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- barrister_scott_lord@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: uk_e-lotterydraws@mchsi.com
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2007 00:52:01 +0000
Subject: ATTENTION!!!
Uk National Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service
17-19 cole Street,
baines Middlesex TW18 4TP
United Kingdom.
Ref: UK/7146x4/99
Batch: 042/02xa192
www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/results/results.do
We happily announce to you the Draw 1067 of the UK NATIONAL
LOTTERY,online Sweepstakes International program held on 25th of August, 2007.
Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 023-1111-790-458 with Serial
number 5073-12 drew the lucky numbers:07-13-17-33-40-42 ,and a bonus number of
08 .You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of
US$2.500.000.00 ( Two Million,Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars.)in
cash credited to file KTU/9023118308/03.
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary
Email:barrister_scott_lord@yahoo.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
