|
|
joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
|
|
"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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- tele2win.tele@googlemail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: S_investitii <s_investitii@icas.ro>
Reply-To: <awardswinning@excite.co.uk>
Date: Sat, 20 Mar 2010 14:02:43 +0100
Subject: Internet Win.
Tele2 International.
Internet Win..
P.o.box 2713
London SW1E 5JL
United Kingdom.
Tel: 00447919671337
Fax: 00447006041056
www.you-win-the-internet.com
Reference Number: ENT-5577-33-38
INTERNET WIN!
Dear Winner,
Tele2 wishes to congratulate you for being one of the lucky winners in the International Internet Win.
We are pleased to inform you of the release of the awaited results of the International Internet Win organized by
Tele2. held on 09th March 2010, in The United Kingdom.
Your email address emerged as one of the online winning emails in the International Internet Win
for the 2nd category winning prize of GBP.850,500.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand Five Hundred Pounds)
and a Pavilion dv6-1350us Notebook/Laptop.
****************************************************************************************************************************
FILL IN THE FORM BELOW WITH REQUIRED INFORMATIONS:
FULL NAMES:
OCCUPATION:
AGE:
SEX:
ADDRESS:
POST CODE:
CITY:
STATE:
COUNTRY:
MOBILE-TELEPHONE:
FAX NUMBER:
WINNER EMAIL ADDRESS:
REFERENCE NUMBER:
MODE OF PAYMENT:
PROOF OF IDENTITY: (PASSPORT COPY / IDENTITY CARD OR DRIVER'S LICENSE)
****************************************************************************************************************************
Send above required informations to contact below:
P.R.O (Public Relations Officer)
Mrs. Sarah Sarvton
Tel: 00447919671337
Fax: 00447006041056
Reply Email: tele2win.tele@googlemail.com
Keep this email confidential and away from public notice to prevent double
claim or impersonation with your Reference Number until after remittance/payment to you.
Your claim expiry date is 26th March 2010, after this date all winning prize will be filed as unclaimed.
Congratulations!!
Sincerely,
Monique Sarvton. (Mrs)
Promotion Co-ordinator (Tele2)
http://you-win-the-internet.com © 2010 Icas Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of use. Privacy Statement.
|
Anti-fraud resources:
