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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "uk national lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- +447024098169 (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.
- verificationuk_08@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Eric Vanosdall (STUDENT)" <ericvanosdall@apu.edu>
Date: Sat, 9 Aug 2008 02:16:28 -0700
Subject: Ref: UK/839030X2/14
Ref: UK/839030X2/14
Batch: 065/088/XY24
Today been 9th August 2008, 2008 we announce to you that your email address has won the sum of £590,983.00 (Five Hundred and Ninety Thousand Nine Hundred and Eighty
Three Great British Pounds) in the recent draw of the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY, Online Sweepstakes International Program. To file for your claim, contact your fiduciary agent via email
Immediately: Claims Agent: Mr. Allen Smith Email: verificationuk_08@hotmail.com Phone no: +44-702 409 8169 Claims Department
You are required to provide the following information for verification
Purposes:.......Full Name:..........Full Contact Address:.................
Sex:................Age:....................Occupation:................Tel
(Home/Office/Mobile):.....................
Country of residence:...............................................
For security reasons, you are advised to keep your winning information
Confidential till your claim is processed and your money remitted to You
In whatever manner you deem fit to claim your prize.
Mr. George.shields.
Online Lottery Coordinator.
Anti-fraud resources:
