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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 agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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)
- "euroaward@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "euroaward@yahoo.cn" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Global Online Email Promotion" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <euroaward@yahoo.cn>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2012 04:24:12 -0000
Subject: Global Email Award Promotion
Global Email Award Promotion
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the Internet Promotional Draws. All email addresses entered for this promotional draws were randomly inputted from an internet resource database using the Synchronized Random Selection System (SRSS).
Your email address was selected in the Category A with Code: LY875577/UK and Special Ticket: LY58212/2011-12, and this qualifies you to be the recipient of the grand prize award sum of Two million, five hundred thousand united States dollars.
The pay out of this cash prize to you will be subject to the final validations and satisfactory report that you are the authentic owner of the winning email address. In line with the governing rules of claim, you are required to establish contact with your designated claims agent via email or telephone with the particulars below:
Enquiry officer: Mr Steve Devlet
Phone: +447 424 642 438
Email: euroaward@yahoo.cn
You are advised to immediately establish contact with the Enquiry Officer via the e-mail address above with the information's necessary: Name: Address: Phone: Cell Phone: Email: Alternative Email: Occupation: and Special Ticket:
Failure to complete the claims of your cash prize after 14 days of this notice will result in the revision of award. Hence, you should commence your claims process immediately, by contacting the claims agent (MR Steve Devlet) who would be guiding you through the Claims process.
Yours Faithfully
Promotion Co-coordinator
Peter Dehilster
N.B. Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the Winners will result to disqualification, You are to immediately contact your claims officer with this email (euroaward@yahoo.cn)
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Anti-fraud resources:
