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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:
- "million united state 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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Fund Release Department" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <izu_michael1@micro.lt>
Date: Sun, 6 Dec 2009 14:17:56 +0100
Subject: Is this true or not?
Hello,
Your credit payment file have been added and opened.
We received an email that you are dead and you asked one Mr. William Thomason to come and claim your funds related to your Compensation funds $1.3 Million United State Dollars that has been with us since two weeks now and he has also agreed to pay for the fund release charges of US$295.
So I am writing you to know if you are DEAD OR ALIVE, if you do not reply back before 48hrs we will have no other alternative than to believe that you are dead according to Mr. Williams Thomason. And if you are still alive you can get back to me as fast as you can or you can call me on my phone take note that every thing has been paid for it is just for the fund release fee that this Mr. Williams Thomason has agreed to pay for, if you refuse to get back to us am afraid we shall give the fund transfer to him and collect the money from him that means that he is right that you are dead and he is to claim the funds on your behalf.
Please if you are still alive and ready to claim your winning funds and also Let us know if you are willing to pay the needed Charges of US$295. Send down an attached to this Message with your I.D card Copy in order for us to know that you are alive and kicking.
Please you are advice to stop all further Contact from any body you have been dealing with regarding any Transaction. Please take note that you have been given just 48hrs to get back to us so that we can know if you are alive, and fill the Information Below.
Name:
Phone Number:
Fax:
House Address:
Age:
We await your swift response in regard to this news we received from Mr. Williams Thomason. And if you are alive, we shall take full legal actions to get him down and be brought to book, and we shall get back to you with details on how to make the payment of US$295 for the fund release charge.
Truly Yours.
Mr. Izu Michael
Tel: +234 802 739 4935
izu_michael1@micro.lt
Fund Release Department
COMPENSATION AWARD AUTHORITY
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