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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "rep_leonbecker@yahoo.cn" (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!
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: info@yahoo.cn
Reply-To: rep_leonbecker@yahoo.cn
Date: Sun, 20 Feb 2011 14:00:52 -0500
Subject: THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESS
ATTENTION TO THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESS
We are pleased to notify you the "Winner" of our last Secured Online
sweepstakes result. This is a reward program for the patronage of internet
services and all email addresses entered for this promotional draws were
randomly selected from an internet resource database of registered
software and domain users.
Reference Number: UFC 73 ES 2012
e-ticket number: 76545556453 098
Category: A
Amount: 2,500,000.00 (Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand Dollars)
You should establish contact with your redeeming agent via e-mail or
telephone with the particulars presented below:
***********************************************
CLAIMS AGENT
Contact: Mr. Leon Becker
Phone: +31 61 979 8868
Email: rep_leonbecker@yahoo.cn
***********************************************
In line with the governing rules of claim, you are requested to directly
contact Mr.Leon Becker and furnish him with the following information:
1. Full name... 2. Address... 3. Occupation 4. Age..... 5.
Tel/Fax.... 6. Winning Ref Number...........
Congratulations!!!!!!!
Mr. Pang Shek.
Promotions Co-ordinator
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