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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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.
- philmorrisclaim@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- philmorris_online@yahoo.it (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: BINGO <info_bingo@fsmail.net>
Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2007 21:13:11 GMT
Subject: Claims Notification
ONLINE BINGO LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL
Congratulations!
This is to inform you that your email ID has
won Five Hundred Thousand United States Dollars(US$500,000.00)in the first
category of our computer ballot email lottery with the said information stated
below;
Ticket Number: 056/834/9087OBL
Batch Number:OBL/4699075/AAF
Serial Numbers :98723400,
PROMOTION DATE: of 15 September 2007
To redeem your winning sum, provide the information below to your assigned claims agent:
Mr . Phil Morris
Tel: +39 348 068 48 85
Emails : philmorrisclaim@aim.com , philmorris_online@yahoo.it for verification,
documentation and payment.
Your full Names:
Telephone:
Ticket And Batch :
Number:
Age :
Occupation:
Congratulations!
Mrs. Janet Caviva.
Head Customer Service
NEVER SEND SPAM. IT IS BAD.
Anti-fraud resources:
