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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million british pounds" (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 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.
- infomaerskoilkpc@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "paydept@mail.com" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <infomaerskoilkpc@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Apr 2012 21:23:33 +0200
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!
WINNER!
REFERENCE NUMBER: 764KKL5
Your email has been awarded £1, 000, 000.00 BPS (One Million British Pounds Sterling) in the Maersk Oil/KPC Online E-mail draw. To claim your prize contact our claims agent:
Mr. Alex Wright
infomaerskoilkpc@gmail.com
With the following information below:
FULL NAMES
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS
NATIONALITY
PHONE NUMBERS
OCCUPATION
MARITAL STATUS
AGE & SEX
YOUR REFERENCE
Pls note that you must keep your reference number private to avoid a double claim or impersonation. Be informed that if any one presents the same reference number as yours, you will be automatically disqualified from this draw.
Thank You.
Lotto Director
Caba Swatt
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Anti-fraud resources:
