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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- +447024094094 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- camelotpromoa10@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "E-Online Lottery" <verywin@core.com>
Reply-To: webnoticex@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:54:55 -0400
Subject: Award Promotions !
Dear Winner, Your ref: 6525/07
The
National Lottery is pleased to inform you that you emerged a winner of
£480,152.00 GBP in the last concluded National Lottery online draws on
19th July,2007.
However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were assigned to
different ticket numbers for representation and privacy. After this automated
computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of ten winners in the FIRST category for the THIRD prize. Your prize award has been insured with your e-mail address and will be
transferred to you upon meeting the requirements, statutory obligations,
verifications,validations and satisfactory report. Fill in the information below and send it to the Lottery Fiduciary agent with the following email address. Name:Mrs Roxanne Green
E-mail Address: E-mail Address:- camelotpromoa10@yahoo.co.uk Telephone : +447024094094, +447024094157 1.First Name:
2.Last Name:
3.Your Ref:
4.Address:
5.Country: 6.Telephone:
7.Occupation:
8.Age:
9.Preffered payment Mode:
(a) Cheque (b) Bank Transfer
Congratulations. Sir. Richard K. Lloyd
Co-ordinator(Online Promo Programme) The UK Online Lottery
Players must be 16 or over. Terms and Conditions, Games Rules and Procedures apply.
Camelot Group plc Registered Office: Tolpits Lane, Watford, Herts, WD18 9RN
Registered in England and Wales
Anti-fraud resources: