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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 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.
- +447031745842 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +447039403931 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: Stella Botha <stella.botha@ymail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 04:21:04 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: CONTACT PERSON, MR. JONES MOGAN (TT DEPT)
I will start by saying Congratulations.  Â
We have concluded with our verification Ticket No.SAF0026A as attached to the file we have with us has been verified as correct and valid for the amount of $750,000:00 in your favor.Â
Find attached the certificates that legitimize your claim and Insurance Bond certificate which authenticate your claim and your e-mail ID emerged was randomly selected through a computer based random draw as one of the lucky winner of the 2010 FIFA Soccer world cup Hosted in South Africa is over as it was finalized on the 11th of July 2010, the draw was conducted Last week from the Inter.Net from all over the world to promote Soccer and to Create our South Africa world cup 2010 Vision to move Africa Forward in sports in the next draw.
We therefore request that you come forward to finalize your claim of which our new payment system is loading the amount won in an ATM card and Courier to you if you are unable to come here in person and again with the instructions given to Active Finance Bank of England for the purpose of transfer to your account. Right now, you are required to immediately send them a fax or email the Bank for more details because they have been given authorization to set up an account for you so that you can be able to transfer your fund through there automated banking plant form to any account of your choice in your state which is the second option or you your wire can be done on Online in our Head office in New York. Â
CONTACT PERSON, MR. JONES MOGAN (TT DEPT)
Tel: +447031745842
Fax: +44-7039-403-931
Email: transfer@activefinancebk.org   Â
your money has been insured and BONDED in other to protect you and your fund. In that regard it is neither indivisible nor deductible. Therefore, no one will be able to remove a dollar until your money gets to your account.   Â
Note that a winner are advised to keep their winning and all documents Confidential and out of public awareness until your prize is finally transferred to your account. This is to avoid double claim by other people taking your winning information to put for a claim as the lottery is an email based. Please strictly adhere to this instruction don’t get over excited and go contrary to this as we will not be responsible for wrong claim and payment.    Â
We expect to hear from you for the confirmation of the receipt of your email. Â
Thank you   Â
Mr. Frank Leon (Claim Agent / Verification Officer)
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Anti-fraud resources:
