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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "australian lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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)
- "foreignoperationshalifaxplc@msn.com" (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: "Australia Lottery Promo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <foreignoperationshalifaxplc@msn.com>
Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 16:42:07 -0700
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS WINNER, YOUR EMAIL HAS WON $500,000.00, NOT JUNK
Ref: 475061725
Batch: 7056490902/188
Winning no: GB8701/LPRC
Congratulations.
We are delighted to inform you of your prize release today, from the Australian Lottery Sweepstakes International. This is a bonus to promote lotto in Australia Which is fully based on an electronic selection of winners using their e-mail addresses from some site.
You hereby have been approved a lump sum pay of $500,000.00USD (Five Hundred Thousand united states dollars) in cash credit file ref: ILP/HW 47509/02 from the total cash prize shared amongst eight lucky winners in this category.
Please quote your reference, batch and ticket number which can be found on the top left corner of this notification as well as your
Full Name:
Full Address:
Winning E-Mail:
To file for your claim: simply contact the authorized paying bank Halifax
Bank plc London.
Contact Person: Mr Paul Anderson
e-mail: foreignoperationshalifaxplc@msn.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
