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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:
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dradams.wright@outlook.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!
Fraud email example:
From: Glo Award 2017 <info@lottery.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Jun 2017 22:36:40 +0200
Subject: RE : WON PRIZE { REFERENCE NUMBER: AKMTH-SA: 948064CRH2017} - -
ASIAN INTERNATIONAL LOTTERY EMAILS DRAW INC 2017
ASIAN/JP-GUNTHER, MUOG NONG SOIL 60.
D-96052 BANGKOK THAILAND
REFERENCE NUMBER: AKMTH-SA: 948064CRH2017
BATCH: AML/90/4210
CONGRATULATIONS!!
We are happy to announce to you the result of Electronic email Address
balloting system of Asian International Lottery draw held on 16th June,
2017 in Bangkok Thailand. All email addresses were selected through a
computer ballot system in which your email address was selected as one
of the lucky winners. Please be advised to keep your winning information
confidential until your claim has been processed and your money
remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double
claiming and unwarranted abuse of this programmed by fraudulent
scammers.
We wish to inform you that your email addresses have won ($750,000 SEVEN
HUNDRED AND FIFTY THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) from the Asian
International Lottery Programmed with Reference Winning Number:
AKMTH-SA: 948064CRH2017. You are therefore advised to contact our
payment Office in our Asian regional Branch, Bangkok Thailand where your
winning balloting numbers fall for payment.
Contact Person Name: Dr. Adams Wright
Contact Email: dradams.wright@outlook.com
Address: Pantip Towers Soi 106/2 Sathorn Bangkok 10591 Bangkok Thailand.
Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of our email account user programmed.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Eseibi Diana Lidia
Promotions Manager/Prize Announcer
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