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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:
- 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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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 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.
- wufengngpe@terra.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: INFO <gracefengpeng@gmail.com>
Reply-To: wufengngpe@terra.com
Date: Fri, 28 Jan 2011 6:25:34 -0300
Subject: Re: REPLY IMMEDIATELY.
--
Dear One,
Your email address name attached to a ticket number:
68-43-14-3-83-5 with the serial number: 90-Q72 drew
the lucky number which consequently won the draw in the
1st category. Your email address was among the (10)
email addresses chosen to receive grand prize of
US$1,750,000.00 each in this 2011 section.
Your prize number falls within Asia region clearance office
in Guangdong China Your clearance agent will facilitate payment process
immediately you contact her.Contact your Agent with your
information below:
Full Name:
Marital Status:
Age:
Occupation:
Home Phone:
Mobile Phone:
City/Country:
Nationality:
Ref No:
Batch No:
Therefore you must contact your Claim Agent
Mrs.Grace Wu Fengpeng
Reply TO: wufengngpe@terra.com
Winner's Choice Foundation Lottery
Address: Guangdong International Center.
I want you to know that verification and confirmation of all of
your payment documents have been sent to our affiliate loto company,
Also, be rest assured that your winning will be sent to you as
{ATM Card or Bank Transfer upon our confirmation
of your information's above.Valied used in any ATM
machine worldwide.
Mrs G.Wu.FengPeng
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Anti-fraud resources:
