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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 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.
- claimagent207@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "STAATS LOTERIJ NL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimagent207@aim.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 15:58:37 +0100
Subject: Reply Immediately
STAATS AWARD INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM 2011
Paleisstraat 5, 2514 JA Den Haag
The Netherlands.
http://www.staatsloterij.nl
(I) Batch numbers: NL 01/66108
(ii) Ticket number: NL 542/02/87
(iii) Ref number: NL/1234/10/08
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the STAATS LOTERIJ NL Email Winner's International programs held on 1st of February 2011.released Today 9th February 2011. Your email address have been selected as one of the lucky winning address, therefore you have been approved for a lump sum payout of 950.000.00 Euro (Nine Hundred and Fifty Thousand Euro)
To file and claim your winning contact your claim agent with the following
information's below.
Contact Person: Mr. Renato Teinze
Foreign Operations Manager
TEL: +31-616-942-662
FAX: +31-847-139-212
REPLY EMAIL: claimagent207@aim.com
(1)Full Name :
(2)Tel/Fax # :
(3)Ref, Batch and Ticket Numbers in the email received:
(4)Country origin:
(5)Amount Won:
(6)Age:
(7)Occupation:
(8)Contact Address
NOTE: All winnings must be claimed not later than 20th February 2011, after this date all unclaimed funds will be included in the next stake. Anybody under the age of 18 is automatically disqualified.
Note that if you are not a resident winner of the Netherlands you will be required to pay for the Insurance and the legalization/notarization of
your Winning documents.
CONGRATULATIONS;
Sweepstakes International Program.staatsloterij.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs.Victoria Holbrooke.
Online coordinator.
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Anti-fraud resources:
