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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:
- ",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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "officialclaimsoffice@safrica.com" (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: "Amanda Rose via Bmw Lottery"<carl.hager@bmw.co.za>
Reply-To: officialclaimsoffice@safrica.com
Date: 11 May 2017 00:13:11 -0700
Subject: May Notification!!!
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a prize of
a brand new 2016 Model BMW X6M CAR, a CHECK worth US$1,500,000.00
from the international balloting programs held in the
Johannesburg, South Africa.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in
our computerized email selection system (ESS) from a database of
over 25,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of
the world which you were selected.
The BMW Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also
licensed by the International Association of Gaming Regulators
(IAGR). To begin the processing of your prize you are to contact
our fiduciary claims department for more information as regards
procedures to the claim of your prize.
Name: Michael De Wet
Phone: +27719779919
email: officialclaimsoffice@safrica.com
Contact him by providing your secret pin code Number
BMW:2551256003/23. You are also advised to provide him with the
under listed information as soon as possible:
1. Name In Full :
2. Residential Address :
3. Nationality :
4. Age :
5. Occupation :
6. Direct Phone :
7. Present Country :
8. Email address :
9. Pin code Number BMW:
MRS. AMANDA ROSE.
THE DIRECTOR PROMOTIONS
BMW LOTTERY DEPARTMENT
PRETORIA. S.A
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Anti-fraud resources:
