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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:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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: "EUROPEAN LOTTERY." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <europeanlottdeptuk@careceo.com>
Date: Thu, 13 Sep 2012 14:04:49 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS ( YOU HAVE WON ).
EUROPEAN LOTTERY.
9th Floor
34 The Aldwych
London.
WC2B 4DN.
Dear Winner,
My name is Mrs. Barbara Newton and on the behalf of EUROPEAN LOTTERY OF UNITED KINGDOM, I wish to announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners in the EUROPEAN LOTTERY draw held on the 10th of September 2012.
Your email address emerged alongside 9 others as a 2nd category winner in this year's Annual EUROPEAN LOTTO Draw.Consequently, you have therefore been approved for a total payout of £870,000.00 UK Pounds (EIGHT HUNDRED & SEVENTY THOUSAND POUNDS STERLING'S).The following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:
(i) Winning numbers: 05-11-30-33-49..BONUS NUMBER: 03-07.
(ii) Email ticket number: KFV488850
(iii) Lotto code number: UKEL5820
(iv) The file Ref number: GBP870PQ83/UK
Please contact the under listed claims officer with the email address below as soon as possible for the immediate release of your winnings: All correspondence must be sent to this email address: europeanlottdeptuk@careceo.com
CONTACT PERSON: Dr. Andrew Peterson
DEPARTMENT OF CLAIMS
DIRECT LINES: +44-131-608-0023
DIRECT LINES: +44-203-514-1245
FAX NUMBER : +44-203-514-1252
EMAIL: europeanlottdeptuk@careceo.com
Please always put your Email ticket number as the subject when contacting Dr. Andrew Peterson with the email address above. This email notification is auto-generated and it is valid for four weeks.
Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Regards,
Mrs. Barbara Newton.
ONLINE CO-ORDINATOR.
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Anti-fraud resources:
