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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.
- 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.
- +447045711150 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +447035919274 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- supersport_inc001@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Supersport Lottery =?iso-8859-1?b?UHJvbW90aW9urg==?=
<bretaude@lcpc.fr>
Reply-To: supersport_inc001@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Mon, 15 Nov 2010 20:09:27 +0100
Subject: Dear Supersport Prize Winner!!!
Dear Supersport Prize Winner!!!
Congratulations!!! You have won the sum of £750,000.00 GBP (Seven hundred and
fifty thousand pounds) in the Supersport Lottery Promotion®. To further the
claims of your prize, you are advised to contact the payment manager
below with
your information. Your email was randomly selected out of one million email
addresses used for the online draw and this qualifies you as a winner. Your
email address is attached to the winning ticket number SP/919/2010/007, this
makes you eligible to receive the approved sum. Kindly fill the form below and
send it back to me.
YOUR WINNING INFORMATION FORM:
Full Name: Address:
Occupation: Country:
Telephone: Fax Number:
Sex: Age:
Name Of Promotion:
( Choose Your Mode of Collection )
1. Bank Transfer.
2. Courier Delivery To Your Door Step.
----------------------------------------------------------
For More Enquiries, Contact;
Name: Mr Forest Walker
Phone: +44 704 571 1150
Contact Email: supersport_inc001@yahoo.co.jp
----------------------------------------------------------
This promo is governed and monitored by the British Gambling Commission and
censored (B.G.C).
Best Regards
Mr Forest Walker
Lottery Payment Manager
Tel: +44-703-591-9274
SUPERSPORT 2010 ©, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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