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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "fudiciary" (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.
- +447017700169 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- cocacola-claimsdept1@hotmail.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "COCA-COLA PROMOTION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cocacola-claimsdept1@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 10:56:08 +0530
Subject: Attn: Lucky Winner
THE COCA COLA ONLINE LOTTERY
PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
COCA COLA AVENUE STAMFORD
BRIDGE LONDON
SW1V 3DW
UNITED KINGDOM.
Ticket Number (7PWYZ2011)
Ballot Number (BT:12052011/20)
Attn: Lucky Winner
We are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address has won the
COCA COLA ON-LINE PROMOTION £750,000.00 GBP Seven Hundred And Fifty
Thousand Great Britain Pound Sterlings Only.in the UK COCA COLA ON-LINE
PROMOTION held on JUNE 2011 Your e-mail ID emerged
as one of the winners in the 1st category
YOUR SECURITY FILE NUMBER IS W-91237-H67/B4 (keep personal).
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
confidential till your claims is processed and your money remitted to
you.This is part of our precautionary measure to avoid double claiming
and unwarranted abuse of this program, Please be warned.Attached here is
the Winner Personal Information/Verification & Funds Release Form
You are expected to fill and submit to the Fiduciary Agent.
Name:Mr Martin Hill
Email:cocacola-claimsdept1@hotmail.co.uk
Tel:+447017700169
WINNER"S PERSONAL INFORMATION/VERIFICATION & FUND RELEASE FORM
1. Full Name:
2. Full Address:
3. Marital Status:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
6. Sex:
7. Nationality:
8. Country Of Residence:
9. Mobile Number:
10.Amount won:
You are advised to forward these informations to your fudiciary
Agent as soon as possible to enable her file out a claim for your
Prize winning . Once again, Congratulations.
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Anti-fraud resources:
