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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "wphilip@blumail.org" (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: "Facebook ©" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wphilip@blumail.org>
Date: Tue, 7 Jun 2011 04:19:34 +0800
Subject: Congratulations !
Congratulations !!!!
You have been selected as one (1) of (15) winners in this
months Face-book online splash promo selected from all
regions by our internet processing unit. Our fifteen (15)
winners have been selected from five continents currently
connected to the Face book network Bangkok Thailand.
Award Attached to ticket number (5647600545189) and
ballot number (BLT: 12052006/20).
Your User name as the 5th beneficiary in this promo was
chosen at random by our Digital Random Internet Processing
Service Asia Pacific (D.R.I.P.S) and your reward is coming
from the interests generated from advertising and copyrights
from the Face book network Thailand. Congratulations once
again from Face book, You are entitled to a surprise package
worth the sum of $750,000. ( Seven hundred and fifty
thousand dollars Only).
Contact Our THAILAND DISTRICT Online Coordinator directly
with the below information;
Mr. Phillip Wright
Email: wphilip@blumail.org
FULL NAME: ......................
CONTACT ADDRESS/NOT Po BOX:......
PHONE NUMBER:....................
COUNTRY/NATIONALITY:.............
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:..............
TICKET NUMBER :...(5647600545189)
BALLOT NUMBER:....(BLT: 12052006/20)
Do not disclose this to any one on till you claim your price
for security reasons.we have had cases where the last
winners complain of someone else claiming their prices.
Mrs.Monica Williams
Fiduciary Agent Face-Book Team.
Face book ? 2011 ¡¤ English (US)
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