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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:
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- " lotto international " (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "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)
- "giovannitrapani@games.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: MEGA PICKNPLAY<megamillionpicknplay@luckymail.com>
Date: Mon, 7 Jun 2010 19:52:04 GMT
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS
This is to inform you of the release of the MEGA MILLION E-MAIL LOTTERY
BALLOT INTERNATIONAL/ WORLD GAMING BOARD held on the 5th of June
2010 and the results released on the 7Th of July, 2010.
Your email address attached to Ticket No:0041523014 with Serial No
632404500 drew the lucky numbers of 27-41-05-25-35-81 which consequently
won the lottery in the 2nd category. You have therefore been approved
for a lump sum payout of $500,000.00 Dollars (Five Hundred Thousand
United States Dollars) in cash credited to file REF. No: MMEL/EU/7041/44320/106
To begin your lottery claim, do contact the claims manager on
Giovanni Trapani
CLAIMS MANAGER
MEGA MILLION LOTTO INTERNATIONAL SPA
giovannitrapani@games.com
Note that all winning must be claimed not later than 3rd July,2010.
Yours Sincerely,
MARCO MODA
Lottery Coordinator
NEVER SEND SPAM. IT IS BAD.
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