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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 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.
- univesalcompany@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "DR LUIS FABIANO" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <UNIVESALCOMPANY@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 12:29:26 +0200
Subject: GOOD NEWS
P:I:D.E:(ESx/1.082WSTpCST)
You have every reason to be happy, because you are the
selected winner of the first ever ONCE ELCOMBO LOTTERY
COMMISSION MAIL Xplosive! promotion.
Your email address has won you a prize money of 500,000.00
EURO. Do note that this was done randomly, and you emerged as
the first ever winner, congrats ! Do not be confused you are
the rightfull winner.
further information on how to collect your prize money,
Do send an email containing your;
Full name................
Country..................
Contact Address..........
Telephone Number.........
Fax Number---------------
Occupation...............
Age.....................
Mode Payment------------
NAME: LUIS FABIANO
EMAIL: UNIVESALCOMPANY@AOL.COM
OR call ; 00 34 639 054 096
NOTE: Make sure you add your P.I.D.N (personal
identification number) to your reply email. (You can find
your personal identification number at the top right corner
of this email )
***Due to possible mix up of some numbers and email contacts, we ask that you keep this award strictly out of public notice until your claim has been processed and your money remitted. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming or unscrupulous acts by some participants of this program.***
The LOTTOR XPLOSIVES! team wishes to congratulate you.
THANKS
LUIS FABANIO (DR)
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Anti-fraud resources:
