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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- +447031741175 (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.
- nelsonsmith1000@pnetmail.co.za (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "MRS RITA HOPKKINS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nelsonsmith1000@pnetmail.co.za>
Date: Fri, 21 Aug 2009 14:36:51 -0700
Subject: PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION
Take That Ltd.
4 PRINCES SQUARE
H ARROGATE
N. YORKS
HG1 1LX
http://www.takethat.co.uk/
Ref: UK/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Take That Ltd. in collaboration with the UK National Online Lottery use this medium to notify you of your winning.Congratulations as you have successfully emerged as one of our winner of 480,152 GBP on our onlinedraws which was played on the 21st August 2009.
Due to the mix up of some numbers and names,We award strictly from public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted to your account.
For further Information and update about your Winning,kindly contact our Lottery Fiduciary Agent with the following information.
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Country:
4.Contact telephone number:
5.Sex/Age/Marital status
6.Occupation:
7.Your Ref and batch number:
Name:MR.NELSON SMITH
E-mail Address:nelsonsmith1000@pnetmail.co.za
Telephone:+44 70317 41175
Congratulations from me and members of staff of Take That Ltd. and UK NATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY.
Yours faithfully,
MRS RITA HOPKKINS
Foreign Services Manager
Payment and Release order Department
Take That Ltd.
Note: Take That Ltd. (Reg. No. 2147008) is a private limited company incorporated in July, 1987
http://www.takethat.co.uk/
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Anti-fraud resources: