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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.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "el gordo " (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "foreign service manager" (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)
- 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 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.
- elglobalseguros@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: EL GORDO DE LA PRIMITIVA LOTERIA <elgordodelaprimitiva01@gmail.com>
Reply-To: elglobalseguros@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 2020 05:04:29 -0500
Subject: FINAL AWARD NOTIFICATION
FROM THE DESK OF THE VICE PRESIDENT Calle de Alcalá
12a E-28014
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT MADRID-SPAIN
ATTENTION: REF/ES/ES/0264524715ZBN
BATCH NO: ES/5275YD65IMN 07/02/2020
RE:AWARD CLAIM FINAL NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the released results of the EL GORDO DE
LA PRIMITIVA SPANISH SWEEPSTAKE LOTTERY / INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION
PROGRAMME held on the 24th December 2019 and result released today 9th
January
2020. Your email address attached to the Ticket number
065-80-311-752-999 with Serial number 2671-763 drew the lucky numbers
65-98-05-11-64 which consequently won the lottery in the 3rd Category.
You are therefore been approved for lump sum pay out of €712,580.78
(SEVEN HUNDRED AND TWELVE THOUSAND, FIVE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY EURO
SEVENTY EIGHT CENTS ONLY) in cash credited to file No: NIS/08. This is
from total cash prize of €11,376 610 (ELEVEN MILLION THREE HUNDRED AND
SEVENTY SIX THOUSAND SIX HUNDRED AND TEN EURO ONLY) shared among the
twenty five international winners in this Category.
To begin your claim please contact your authorized claims agent, Juan
Martinez Foreign Service Manager EL GLOBAL SEGUROS S.A MADRID SPAIN via
email: elglobalseguros@gmail.com for the processing
and remittance of your winning prize money to a designation account of
your choice.
Remember, all prize money must be claimed not later than 31st of
March 2020 after which all funds will be returned to the MINISTERIO
DE ECONOMIA Y HACIENDA as unclaimed funds. Be informed that 5% of your
Lottery Winning will be paid to EL GLOBAL SEGUROS S.A after you have
received your money.
Please quote your reference and batch numbers in every correspondence
with us or your
agent.
Congratulations once again from all our members of staff and thank you
for being part of our International Promotions Program.
Yours Faithfully,
Jose Luis Miguel
Vice President.
www.loteria.es
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