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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "globallotta@luckymail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: Monica Graz <mauraconvent@eircom.net>
Reply-To: GLOBALL LOTTA <globallotta@luckymail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 11:54:30 +0100 (IST)
Subject: Dear Confirmed lucky winner!!!
Dear Confirmed lucky winner!!!
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of
€500,000,00 (Five Hundred Thousand Euro Only) of our monthly promo and this promotion was held in Madrid Spain on the 17TH of May 2010.The Selection was carried out through a Computer Random Selection System and your email address came out as one of the Three Lucky Winners.
Contact our fiduciary agent for claims with:
Agents Name: Joseph Ruddy
Email: globallotta@luckymail.com
Fill the below:
1. Name:
2. Address
3. Marital Status:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
6. Sex:
7. Nationality:
8. Country of Residence:
9. Telephone Number:
10.Amount won:
Sincerely,
Mrs. Monica Graz.
Chairman & CEO Copyright © 1995-2009
The FREELOTTO National Lottery Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of Service Guideline
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
N:B: You are advised to keep your winning strictly confidential until
your winning is processed and received by you. This is to avoid double
claiming which could lead to disqualification.
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Anti-fraud resources:
