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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- ",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)
- 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.
- +31619703474 (Netherlands, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- staatssloteinfo@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- staatssloteinfo1@aim.com
- staatsloteinfo@yahoo.de (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "FROM:Ms Diana Hamrock" <staatsloteinfo@aim.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Nov 2007 02:38:31 +1000
Subject: Staatsloterij Amsterdam,NL
WINNER !!!.
REF : MDF/BB971849/DY19
BATCH No : JYT/187691/044
LUCKY No : Z-71620-G07/B1
We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the
Staatsloterij (1,000,000.00) One Million Euros Lottery program held
on 6th November 2007,released today 8th November 2007.
The online cyber lotto draws was conducted from an exclusive list of
21,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies picked
by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet,
no tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail
address
emerged as one of Four winners in the category "A" You are therefore been
approve
to claim the sum of (1,000,000.00)One Million Euros.
To file for your claims,you are to contact Mr Jonas Smith on
Email:staatssloteinfo@aim.com and Tel/Fax numbers stated below with
the following information.
Full Name :
Tel/Fax # :
Ref,Batch and Lucky Numbers in the email received :
country origin :
Amount Won :
Age :
Occupation :
_____________________________________________
Tel : +31-619-703-474
Fax : +31-847-445-425
Email : staatssloteinfo1@aim.com
: staatsloteinfo@yahoo.de
Yours Faithfully,
Ms Diana Hamrock
( Lottery co-ordinator international )
Web site :https://www.staatsloterij.nl
Anti-fraud resources:
