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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:
- ",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)
- 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.
- tonyanderson.prizeclaim@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Richmund C. Sta. Lucia" <rcstalucia@mail.accralaw.com>
Reply-To: tonyanderson.prizeclaim@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 25 Aug 2015 02:36:14 +0800
Subject: =?ISO-8859-1?Q?Your_Prize_=A31?=,000,000.00 (GBP)
BET96 / PRIZE AWARD DEPT
HIGH SWEEP STAKE LOTTERY
REF NO: BET96IL/3762367224/015 BATCH NO: 962177/0015/MMD
RE- TICKET NO-92-73-1-813-29-1/4 SERIAL NO: 9773-015
We are pleased to inform you the release result of the BET96 / PRIZE AWARD DEPT END OF
YEAR HIGH-STAKE INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM held on 24TH of August 2015. Your E-mail address
and name attached to the ticket number 92-73-1-813-29-1/4 with serial number 9773-15
drew lucky winner of 1Million British Pound Sterling.
You have therefore been approved with 1,000,000.00 Million British Pound for remittance
of the money into your bank account by transfer or certified cashiers check send to you
by express delivery to your address.
You are urgently advice to fill the below details and send back.
Name and address:
Contact Phone:
Bank Name and address:
Account No:
Marital Status and Age:
Occupation:
You should fill your detail and forward to ATTN, TONY ANDERSON, Foreign operations
manager and claim processing unit Email: tonyanderson.prizeclaim@gmail.com
Remember to keep your claim TICKET NO-92-73-1-813-29-1/4 SERIAL NO: 9773-015 secretes to
avoid unwarranted double claim. Its vital you keep all informations confidential till
you receive your prize.
Congratulations ones again from all members of Euro Million and thanks you for being a
part to our online Email promotion program.
Thanks.
Mary Wellington
PRESIDENT BET96
UK BRANCH
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Anti-fraud resources: