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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "you are advise to" (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.
- riccardovaranini101@gmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Susan Vittorio" <info@fondazionedivittorio.it>
Reply-To: riccardovaranini101@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 30 Dec 1899 00:00:00 +0100
Subject: Cash Price Grant (US$2,500,000.00)
Fondazion Di Vittorio, ITALY
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
Be notified by our organization that you just won the Donation of US$2,500,000.00 (Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars).
You are advise to contact immediately you received this mail for further instruction on how you are to claim your donation prize.
Please quote your qualification numbers to our secretary for security reasons. Qualification numbers (N-222-6747, E-900-56) quote in all
discussions.
Contact information below:
Executive Secretary- Mr. Riccardo Varanini
Email: riccardovaranini101@gmail.com
VERIFICATION FORM
(1)FULL NAMES
(2)ADDRESS
(3)CITY
(4)STATE
(5)COUNTRY
(6)SEX
(7)AGE
(8)MARITAL STATUS
(9)TELEPHONE NUMBER
(10)OCCUPATION
Visit our site for more information:
http://www.fondazionedivittorio.it
Best Regards,
Mrs.Susan Vittorio
(Foundation officer)
Anti-fraud resources:
