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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")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- davieskirk@mynet.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "LAND ROVER AUTOMOBILE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <davieskirk@mynet.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 10:24:48 -0600
Subject: Congratulations from LAND ROVER AUTOMOBILE COMPANY.
¦ Home
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yahoo.pt
KIRK DAVIES
To
me
Jan 22 at 3:47 PM
Congratulations from LAND ROVER AUTOMOBILE COMPANY.
You have been selected as a winner of our brand new 2014 LR4 Luxury 4X4
with a prize cheque of Nine Hundred & Fifty Thousand US Dollars only.
Vehicle Specification:
Engine size: 5.0L
Body style: SUV
Horsepower: 375 HP
Model year: 2014
The LR4 Lottery is an annual Roll Over Ballot Programme held in
California - USA to promote global sales of the 2014 LR4 Model. The
program is approved by the International Association of Gaming
Regulators (IAGR).
The selection process of prize winners was carried out through random
selection run with a computer based email selection system (ESS) from a
database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all various
continents of the world, and your email address was selected by the ESS
Computer program qualifying you for the prize.
To begin the processing of your prize claim you are to contact our
fiduciary agent of the claims department for additional information on
how to redeem your prize.
To process your prize, you are required to fill out and submit your
personal information listed below, then include your Secret Winning Code
LR4-58002-2014 in the subject line.
1. Full Names:
2. Present Residence Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age:
5. Occupation :
6. Contact Telephone Number:
7. Current Country of Residence:
8. Private Email Address:
9. Winning Code: LR4-58002-2014
Contact the assigned fiduciary agent through the information below to
redeem your prize.
Name: MR. KIRK DAVIES
Telephone Number: +1 213-712-7068
Email: davieskirk@mynet.com
Congratulations from all of us at LAND ROVER AUTOMOBILE COMPANY.
Ms. Annabelle Madison
PROMOTIONS MANAGER - LAND ROVER LOTTERY
Terms and Conditions May Apply.
© 2015 All Rights Reserved
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