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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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)
- "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!
- 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.
- fagbajames@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "ASIA PACIFIC INT'L LOTTERY ORGANIZATION" <coordinatorkaneiva66@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fagbajames@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 5 Feb 2023 04:15:29 -0600
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
YOU WON 2,800,000.00 UNITED STATE DOLLARS!!!
Dear Lucky Winner,
We are Pleased to inform you that your email was selected among the
winning numbers of the recently Lotto conducted from the Lotto Website
and we shall be glad if you can claim your prize, please respond to
this mail within 72 hours otherwise we will assume that you are not
interested.
We conduct the Lotto using Lotto as part of our tax relief program set
up by the International Lottery Board and ASIA PACIFIC INT'L LOTTERY
ORGANIZATION, on this note we congratulate you and wish you the best
of luck as you claim the prize attached
to this Lotto.
For more details please reconfirm your full informations
1. Full Name:
2. Residential Address:
3. Marital Status:
4. Occupation:
5. Age:
6. Sex:
7. Nationality:
8. Country of Residence:
9. Telephone Number:
THAILAND CONTACT PERSON: Mr.Fagba James
EMAIL: fagbajames@gmail.com
(Winner’s directorate office)
LOTTERY CO-ORDINATOR.
Sincerely,
ASIA PACIFIC INT'L LOTTERY ORGANIZATION
REF: N.EG/43277876118/19
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Anti-fraud resources:
