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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:
- "skynet@omail.hu" (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: =?iso-8859-1?Q?=AE_2010_Euro_Millions_Mega_Lottery?= <info.winner@eurolottery.org>
Reply-To: skynet@omail.hu
Date: Fri, 22 Oct 2010 07:56:32 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Your E-Mail Have Just Won You The Sum
=?iso-8859-1?Q?=801.5_Million_Euro_In_South_East_Asia_Euro_Mega_Lottery_G?=
ame
EURO MILLIONS RESULTS
(Euro Mega Lottery Game 2010)
DEAR: LUCKY WINNER,
This is to inform you that your Email address have just won you the sum
€1.5 Million Euro in the On-line Euro Million Mega Lottery Game. conducted
here in South East Asia. Here with you winning details attach to your
email address:
==========================================================
Lucky Draw Numbers: 14-30-32-35-49/Credited File No. KTU/9023118308/03/
Serial/Draw Ticket Number 5368/306
==========================================================
You are to contact our AFFILIATE COURIER AGENT with your winning details
and fill-up the below personal information for documentation of claim /
delivery of your winning Cheque/Certificate of € 1.5 Million Euro.
Full Name: __________________________________________
Address: ____________________________________________
Occupation: _________________________________________
Country: ____________________________________________
Language: ___________________________________________
Telephone: __________________________________________
Sex/Age: ____________________________________________
CONTACT COURIER AGENT WITH THE BELOW EMAIL LINK.
Claim Officer: Mr. Eliot Gomez
E-mail: skynet@omail.hu
Telephone: +60129115890
Congratulations once more from all members and staffs of this program.
Yours Truly,
On-line Co-ordinator.
South East Asia Zone
Euro Million Mega Lottery.
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Anti-fraud resources:
