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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:
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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: "YOU WON EMAIL CASH PROMO DRAWS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <onlineinstagramlotto@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2018 08:50:18 -0000
Subject: YOU WON EMAIL CASH PROMO DRAWS
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT.
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD.
BATCH NUMBER: 2551236002/244
SERIAL NUMBER. 55643451907
TICKET NUMBER: 5647600545189
CATEGORY: 2nd
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the result of the just concluded annual Final draws held on the (1ST Of JENUARY 2018.) by INSTAGRAM group in cash Promotion to encourage the usage of Trip Together worldwide 20 people were selected who have won $750,000.00 (Seven Hundred and fifty thousand United State dollars) each on the INSTAGRAM group promotion Award Attached to ticket number (5647600545189) and Ref No(2551256002/244) Serial Number (55643451907).
The on-line draws was Conducted by a random selection of email you where picked by an Advanced automated random computer search from the INSTAGRAM in other To claim your $750,000.00 USD the lottery program which is a new innovation by INSTAGRAM, is aimed at saying A BIG THANK YOU to all our users for making INSTAGRAM their number one means to connect, communicate, relate and hook up with new friends over the world.
Your name was selected in a raffle that was made on the 1ST Of MAY 2018. so we need your fast response so that we can proceed with the delivery of your fund.
With information below in order for us to complete your winning certificate and for further information regarding the disbursement of your lottery winnings.
FULL NAME:
FULL CONTACT ADDRESS:
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER
AGE:
NATIONALITY / COUNTRY:
TICKET NUMBER:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
REF NUMBER:
CONGRATULATIONS ONCE AGAIN FROM INSTAGRAM!!!!
APPROVED AND SIGNED
KEVIN SYSTROM
FOUNDER INSTAGRAM
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Anti-fraud resources:
