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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- 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.
- fiduciaryagentreocoker203@googlemail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY 2010" <info@uk.com>
Reply-To: fiduciaryagentreocoker203@googlemail.com
Date: Wed, 10 Mar 2010 07:25:56 +0100
Subject: Your E-mail Has Won
Ref: LSUK/2031/8161/04
Batch: R3/A312-59
Attn:Winner,
This letter is to inform you that your e-mail address has
won you the sum 0f 700,000 GBP (Seven hundred thousand
pounds) From the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY 2010.
56475600545 188 with Serial number 5368/02 drew the lucky numbers:
10.16.21.24.34.46. Bonus [30] KTU /9023118308/03.
You are required to contact the below agent for the claiming of your
winning prize money.
Email:fiduciaryagentreocoker203@googlemail.com
You are also required to contact him with the below information.
INFORMATION REQUESTED:
(a) Your full Name:
(b) Contact address:
(c) Your Telephone and fax numbers:
(d) Your Age:
(e) Your occupation:
(f) Your country of origin:
(g) Method of payment:
Mrs.Rita Mark.
On-line coordinator.
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Anti-fraud resources:
