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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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 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.
- cocacolapauk@hotmail.co.uk (Hotmail, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: CHERRY BENITA<drphilipmark@live.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Jan 2012 17:47:31 +0530
Subject: CONGRATULATION! CONGRATULATION!! CONGRATULATION!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!! CONGRATULATIONS!! CONGRATULATIONS!!
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars (USD $ 500,000.00) form E-mail Prize promotion which is Offered by Coca-Cola Company of (UK) England.
Coca-Cola collects all the e-mail addresses of the people that are active online, among the millions that subscribed to Yahoo! and Hotmail and few from other e-mail providers, six people are selected yearly to benefit from this promotion and you are one of the Selected Winners.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
Winners shall be paid in accordance with his/her Settlement Center. Coca-Cola Prize Award must be claimed no later than 30 days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this period will be forfeited.
Stated below are your Identification Numbers:
BATCH NUMBER: MFI/09/APA-43658
REFERENCE NUMBER: 2010234522.
PIN: CO/CA-1210.
These Numbers fall within the England Location file, you are requested to contact your Fiduciary Claims Agent in Manchester and send your Winning Identification Numbers to him with the below Application Form.
Claims Agent Name: Dr.Richard Morrison,
E-Mail:cocacolapauk@hotmail.co.uk
You are advised to send the following information to your Claims Agent to facilitate the release of your fund to you at the earliest.
1. Full Name........................................
2. Country..........................................
3. Contact Address..................................
4. Mobile Telephone #...............................
5. Home Telephone #.................................
6. E-mail Address....................................
7. Marital Status.... ...............................
8. Occupation.......................................
9. Age...............................................
10.Sex...............................................
CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN! AND KINDLY FILL THE ABOVE FORM AND SEND IT TO YOUR FIDUCIARY CLAIMS AGENT BY E-MAIL: cocacolapauk@hotmail.co.uk
Yours in Service,
Mrs. Cherry Benita
Publicity Secretary
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Anti-fraud resources:
