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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (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 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.
- facebookonlinepromo2013@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Donald White" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <facebookonlinepromo2013@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Aug 2013 12:03:36 -0700
Subject: FACEBOOK ONLINE SPLASH PROMOTION 2013
FACEBOOK ONLINE SPLASH PROMOTION 2013
PLOTS 101 CORNHILL LONDON EC7V9NP.
UNITED KINGDOM.
Congratulations!!!
You have been selected as one (1) of (15) winners in this month?s Face-book online splash promo selected from all regions by our internet processing unit. Our fifteen (15) winners have been selected from five continents currently connected to the Face book network London and South Africa.
Award Attached to ticket number (5647600545189) and ballot number (BLT: 12052006/20).
Your User name as the 5th beneficiary in this promo was chosen at random by our Digital Random Internet Processing Service Asia Pacific (D.R.I.P.S) and your reward is coming from the interests generated from advertising and copyrights from the Face book network London and South Africa. Congratulations once again from Face book; you are entitled to a surprise package worth the sum of $750,000. (Seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars only ) .
Contact Our South Africa DISTRICT Online Coordinator directly with the below information;
Mr. Donald White
Email:facebookonlinepromo2013@gmail.com
FULL NAME: ......................
CONTACT ADDRESS/NOT Po BOX:
PHONE NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
COUNTRY/NATIONALITY:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
TICKET NUMBER :...
BALLOT NUMBER:....
Do not disclose this to any one on till you claim your price
for security reasons. We have had cases where the last
winners complain of someone else claiming their prices.
2013? English (US)
About ? Advertising? Developers? Careers? Privacy? Terms? Help
Mr. Donald White
Fiduciary Agent Face-Book Team.
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Anti-fraud resources:
