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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.
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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)
- "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.
- +447035962092 (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.
- rev_josephedward@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "YAHOO!AWARD LOTTERY" <yahooaward@warezdude.net>
Reply-To: rev_josephedward@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:20:53 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: You Have Won a Prize Money of Five Hundred Thousand British
pounds.
Yahoo! Inc.
Customer Care .
701 First Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94089.
USA .
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Five Hundred
Thousand British pounds(£500,000.00 GBP) in the YEAR 2009 YAHOO!
Lottery
promotion which is organized by YAHOO! LOTTERY INC for the introduction
and Launching of the new YAHOO ! BETA MAIL which all YAHOO! Subscribers
are required to switch to YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and
gathered all the e-mail addresses of the people that are active online,
among the Millions that subscribe at YAHOO!,HOTMAIL and Others. We only
selected THREE (3) candidates as our winners after carrying out random
selection process through electronic balloting System (E.B.S) without
the candidate applied; we congratulate you for being one of the people
selected with your email address.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
You are to contact the Claim Rev Dr.Joseph Edward who will issue you a
clearance paper as a winning certificate approved and certified from
our Regional office in the United Kingdom, London and your prize money
will be released to you from any of our regional promotion banks as
directed by the claim agent.
YAHOO! Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from
date of Draw Notification in which Prize has been won.
Note: Any prize not claimed within this period 15 days will be
forfeited.
IDENTIFICATION NUMBERS:
Batch number......................YBM-EBS-390AF
Ref number.........................YBM-EBS-719AF
Winning number...............YBM-EBS-798AF
Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our UK Regional
booklet representative office in London as indicated in your play
coupon.
CONTACT YOUR CLAIMS AGENT HERE
Our UK Fiduciary Claims Agent:
Email:Rev Dr.Joseph Edward
rev_josephedward@hotmail.com
Tel: +447035962092
You are therefore advised to send the following information to him to
facilitate and process the transfer of your fund with any of our Bank
promotion agents.
Send your Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to him so
that he will proceed further for your prize claim immediately:
PERSONAL INFORMATION
1. Full Name:.................................................
2. Nationality/Religion:...................................
3. Contact Address:........................................
4. Telephone Number:....................................
5. Fax Number:..............................................
6. Date of Birth:....................................... ......
7. Occupation.................................................
8. Age.............................................................
9. Sex.............................................................
10.Atternative E-mail address:.........................
11.Next of Kin of the Beneficiary...............
You are advised to keep your winning information confidential to avoid
double claim and abuse of the program until your prize is paid to you.
We hope you're enjoying your new Yahoo! Mail account. Now take the next
step and claim your money and say thanks to Yahoo! You select how to
transfer the prize money to you
1. Account Transfer to your nominated bank
2. Cheque Delivery
This prize will be released to you from any of our promotional banks as
will be directed by the United Kingdom Claim/verification agent.
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