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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "uktoyotadept888@feynet.cn" (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: "THE UK TOYOTA INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY PROGRAM" (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 04:39:21 -0700
Subject: THE UK TOYOTA INTERNATIONALLOTTERY PROGRAM
Congratulations!!!
The UK Toyota International Lottery Program.
Therefore you have been approve for a lump sum payout
(?1,000.000.000 00 GBP), Pounds Sterling in the Toyota International Program
Please fill the form below and send it to our payment department withthe contact given below. Send youR information
Email(uktoyotadept888@feynet.cn)
1.Full Name:
2.Full Address:
3.Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Phone Number:
6.Country:
Mrs Rose Wood
(Information Officer)
Regards
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Anti-fraud resources:
