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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:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million dollars" (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)
- ",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)
- "pchclaimsdept@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: "Publishers Clearing House" <pch@ecologia.unam.mx>
Reply-To: pchclaimsdept@outlook.com
Date: Mon, 23 Oct 2017 11:33:42 -0500
Subject: Winning Notification
We are please to announce to you that your email address emerged along side 4 others as
a category 2 winner in this year's weekly Publishers Clearing House Consequently.You
have won One million dollars and therefore been approved for a total pay out of One
million dollars ($1,000,000.00USD) The following particulars are attached to your lotto
payment order:
winning numbers : 1400
email, ticket number:ETN9091176
Please contact the underlined claims officer with the Contact info below
AGENT: Mr. James Patrick
EMAIL: pchclaimsdept@outlook.com
Winner you are to send the details below to process the immediate payment of your prize
1. Name in full:
2. Address:
3. Phone Number:
4. Sex:
5. Nationality:
6. Age:
7. Present Country:
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Margaret Self
ONLINE CO-ORDINATOR.
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Anti-fraud resources:
