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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (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 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.
- +447045776215 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +442063507888
Fraud email example:
From: info.opec1@mchsi.com
Date: Thu, 29 May 2008 15:45:35 +0000
Subject: May 2008 Result
Reference Number: CTC:2551256003/23
ticket number: C55T24 Serial number: CT/556543450906
Attention Winner ,
Congratulation You won One Million Five Hundred Thousand Great British Pounds
Only, held on 6th of may,.contact our claims officer through this contact below
this contact.
Name GEORGE WILLIAMS,
Phone number +44-704-577-6215
Fax: +44 206-350-7888
E-mail: opecclaimsdpt20081111@Terrapins.com
Contact him with the followings.
FULLNAME:.................AGE:.............NATIONALITY:.............COUNTRY OF
RESIDENCE:...........FULL ADDRESS:...........TEL/FAX NUMBER:...........EMAIL
ADRRESS:..............OCCUPATION..................REFF NUMBER :............
NAME OF NEXT OF KIN.............ADDRESS OF NEXT OF KIN..........
Anti-fraud resources: