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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "cocacolacompany@voila.fr" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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.
- +447014238698 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "Conselho Municipal dos Direitos da Mulher" <commulher@santos.sp.gov.br>
Reply-To: cocacolacompany@voila.fr
Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2012 14:42:03 -0300
Subject: RE-*COCACOLA MESSAGE YOU*
THE COCA-COLA COMPANY 2012 AWARDS.
Ref Number: ASL/941OYI/02/SHYN
Ticket Number (7PWYZ-2012)
Ballot Number (BT:1205-2012/20)
ATTENTION:
On behalf of Coca-Cola Board London, we once again try to notify you as our
earlier letter was returned undelivered to you. We hereby attempt to reach
you again by this same email address that your e-mail address was randomly
selected and entered into our free Third Category draws.You have subsequently
emerged a winner and therefore entitled to a substantial amount of
$1,000,000.00 USD (One Million United State Dollar). Kindly confirm receipt
of this message by forwarding us your details to the claims department.
This Promotion is approved by the British Gaming Board London and also
Licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators (IAGR). This
Promotional Awards of Prize is the 3rd of its kind and we intend to sensitize
the public good awareness about Coca-Cola. In other to claim your prize
winning, Please contact our fiduciary agent with your personal details for
claims in the form below,
Eng: Benson Luke.
Phone Number: +44-70142-38698
Please Reply To This Email: cocacolacompany@voila.fr
1.Full Names:.................
2.Date of Birth:............
3.Sex:......................
4.Contact Address:...........
5.Country:.................
6.Mobile Number:............
7.Occupation:.................
8.How Do You Feel As A Winner:........................
Mrs. Florence Whitney
Online Co-coordinator
The Coca-Cola Company.
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Esta mensagem foi verificada pelo sistema de antivírus e
acredita-se estar livre de perigo.
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