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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- lizcarroll101@aol.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Prize Admin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lizcarroll101@aol.com>
Date: Wed, 15 Nov 2017 19:30:08 -0800
Subject: Congratulations! Lottery Winner
Dear E-Mail User,
Congratulations! You have won a prize of One Million Euros with Coupon number OL/756/320/116. You may be full of excitement and looking for guidance on what to do next.
While we acknowledge you are free to take whatever steps you deem appropriate, all prize winners are to contact the claim office for advice and claim procedure to ensure their prize wealth is secured.
Collecting Your Winnings: You will need to contact the Online Lottery Team by phone at (+31) 644-988-051 or by email below;
Lotto Agency
TEL: +31-644-988-051
Email: lizcarroll101@aol.com
We want to also commend the efforts of the entire lottery organization, particularly members of the lotto.nl and key individuals in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Middle East affiliate for making the seasonal promotion reality.
Yours Faithfully,
Head of Lotto Administrator
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Anti-fraud resources:
