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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:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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)
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "UK NATIONAL LOTTERY AWARD COMMISSION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <customersservice@fcmbplc.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2012 03:41:40 -0500
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!(CONTACT THE BANK FCMB NOW)
Dear Winner,
Your E-mail address has won the sum of £500,000.00GBP(BRITISH POUNDS) only from the UK
National Lottery Awards 2012.Your Prize is deposited in First City Monument
Bank Plc Nigeria(FCMB) and will be paid to you from
our regional office in Nigeria through the UK Embassy.This is to extend UK
National Lottery to all parts of the world and for global appreciation.
Email: customersservice@fcmbplc.com
Email: sirgodwin-director@fcmbplc.com (Operational Director)
Telephone: +2348067952800
Fill and send to bank addrss above.
1. Full Name: .........................
2. Address: ........................
3. Nationality: ....................
4. Age: .......................
5. Occupation: ......................
6. Phone: ..........Fax: .....................
7. State of Origin: .........
8: Sex: ..............................
Note:The bank above will charge you about 85 POUNDS for processing,security and logistic.
Do not let this stop you from claiming your prize.This is in accordance to UK Laws that
"what you win is what you receive"Hence there is no tampering or deduction on your
funds.Remember you did not buy ticket but your email address was balloted and selected
among millions of addresses chosen from which yours emerged as a winner of £500,000.00GBP.
We have 8 winners in this category.
Regard,
Mrs. Adam Rose(Financial Director)
Hon.Mark Blair(Co-coordinator)
+447563416629
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Anti-fraud resources:
