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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:
- 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:
- "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.
- +447005982734 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "GREENWICH ANNUAL AWARD" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <greenwichawards@googlemail.com>
Date: Sun, 16 Aug 2009 05:57:10 +0100
Subject: [Spam] GREENWICH ANNUAL AWARD
GREENWICH ANNUAL AWARD
GREENWICH, LONDON UNITED KINGDOM
This is to inform you that your email ID has won you the sum of £500,000.00 (five hundred thousand pounds) in the GREENWICH ANNUAL AWARD conducted with the computer balloting system and your email won with the winning numbers stated below;
COUPON NUMBER: H88H78
TICKET NUMBER: 965/435/7855
PIN: UK765XX
This is a millennium scientific computer game in which email addresses were used and it is a promotional program aimed at encouraging internet users; therefore, there was no tickets bought.
The lottery is sponsored by a regional organization belonging to the World Lottery Association (WLA) which represents 147 lotteries from 81 countries, with combined annual revenues in Excess of US $102 billion.
In your best interest, we request that you keep the entire details of your award strictly from public notice until the process of transferring your claims is completed. This is in accordance
with section 13(1) (n) of the national gambling act as adopted in 1993 and amended on 3rd July 1996 by the constitutional assembly. This is to protect winners and to avoid misappropriation of funds.
For immediate claims contact the Office below:
Contact Person: Mr Olinfo Ferrari (Claims Department)
Tel: +44-700-5982734
Provide the following information:
1. FULL NAME:
2. ADDRESS:
3. COUNTRY:
4. TELEPHONE:
5. MODE OF PAYMENT: (a) BANK TRANSFER
Congratulations from all our staff.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs. Maria Mayer
International Co-ordinator
Copyright © 2009 Euro Millions Inc.
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