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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.
- 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.
- tomlineagency@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "max lopez" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tomlineagency@aim.com>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 2011 19:01:33 +0100
Subject: MC Donald's Restaurants Ltd:
MC Donald's Restaurants Ltd:
11 - 59 High Road
East Finches
London,
N2 8AW
http://www.mcdonalds.es
MC Donald’ Mega Prize
Enjoy $650 form McDonald's in Spain Happy Memorial Day Eat Out, Spend Less Money! A day off from work and Enjoy $650, Thousand Cash prize, Sounds too
Good to be true? We are giving out a consolation prize award – send us your winning information’s if you are lucky to receive this winning
Notification and have your prize as fast as possible
We want to know what you really think about McDonalds. Is it your favorite fast food joint? Participating! In the new McDonald’s mega yearly
Promotion and win your total cash prize of Six Hundred and Fifty thousand us- Dollars! Your winning information’s should be sent to the email below
For urgent response
MC-Donald's Restaurants Ltd
Email: tomlineagency@aim.com
Name: Max Lopez
TEL+34-688-202-195
FAX+34-917-692-841
1) Full Name:
2) Full Address
3) Winning Email:
4) Tel.Number:
5) Options of payment/wire bank transfer/ certified check,
6) How do you feel as a winner?
Immediately we receive the above Details you will be informing on how to
Claim your prize in your Country within 24 hours, Congratulation Once more
Trust in McDonald's Contact Events Manager -Name: Rev. Terry Wolfgang
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Anti-fraud resources:
