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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
- 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: "Mr. Desmond William" <sinkichi@goo.jp>
Reply-To: "company.b10@yahoo.com" <company.b10@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 24 May 2021 22:37:34 +0900
Subject: Reference Number BMW: 6743222009/13
BMW Automobile Company Hours Of Services:
Mondays - Friday hours 8:00 am–5:00 pm
Dear Esteemed Winner,
This is to acknowledge the receipt of your email to this office and I must say that you should count yourself extremely lucky to have emerged as one of our winners in the 1st section of the 2019, BMW LOTTERY PROMO. Was selected along with others as winners of a prize of a brand new BMW X6 Series Car and a Certified Check of US$20,000,000.00.
INTER WORLD PARCEL EXPRESS LOGISTICS
has been contracted as your shipping agency to send your winnings safely to you as the rightful beneficiary.Contact their delivery Agent with the contact information below for further instructions on how to have your winning safely delivered to you at your home address.
Full Name:................
Home address:.............................
City:...................................
Phone number.........................
Country :..........................
Regards,
Mr. Desmond William
Fiduciary Agent
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Anti-fraud resources:
