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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")
- ",000,000" (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)
- 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.
- glscott43@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Fifa Charity Award" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lotboardwinners@acdcfan.com>
Date: Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:06:17 -0500
Subject: PROMO FROM WHO/FIFA
RE: NOTIFICATION OF WINNING!!!
Congratulations you have won $2,000,000.00 from the FIFA support WHO program, you were listed as a result that your email address was selected due to your incoming and outgoing messages.
Kindly contact our claims agent with your winning reference numbers ZAB-44/90. Prizes are to be paid out within a period of 2weeks upon verification.
Find below payment office details:
Contact Person: Scott Glasgow
Tel: +44 792 458 6142
Email: glscott43@yahoo.co.uk
Provide the paying bank with the following details for processing and payment of your prize.
1.Name in full.
2.Address.
3.Nationality.
4.Age.
5.Occupation.
6.Phone No.
7.Present Country.
8.Fax [optional].
9.Gender
For security reasons your won prize was made bonded and instruction was given to the payment bank not to temper with the fund as it has to be paid to the beneficiary in full.
Congratulations once again.
>From Lottery Co coordinators office Switzerland, do not be careless with your reference numbers.
Sincerely,
Linda Donovan
Promotional Office
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Anti-fraud resources:
