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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:
- "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)
- ",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)
- ",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)
- 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.
- +34622351071 (Spain, 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.
- richbr2008@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 20:32:54 -0600
Subject: CONGRATULATION!!!
Markt Lottery International Espanol
REF: ES-B3087RN-F
Calle Granvia,
Madrid, Spain
Attn Lucky Winner,
We are pleased to inform you that you have emerged as a winner in the final annual draw of our Lottery International Programs. Your email address was selected by our Electronic Random Selection System (ERSS) from an exclusive list of 800,000,000 e-mail addresses of individual and corporate bodies generated from an internet resource database.No tickets were sold.Ticket Number: 444821545-ES/2008 SerialNumber: KPL/09-008/SP.
You are therefore advised to receive a cash prize of 2,500,000.00 USD(Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars) from the total payout.Your prize award has been insured under a bonded depository policy with your e-mail address.
To file for the processing of your prize you are advised to contact Mr Richard Roberts with the information below:
************************************
Mr.Richard Roberts
Tel: +34 622351071
Fax: +34 940 460 841
Email:richbr2008@hotmail.com
************************************
Endeavor to provide him with the following informations:
Names............
Telephone/Fax number:...........
Nationality.........
Age.........
Occupation............
Regards.
Mrs.maria jose
Lottery Co-ordinator
Anti-fraud resources:
