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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:
- "express courier delivery" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. Never ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
- ",000,000" (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)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "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.
- +2348072859479 (Nigeria, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- tntexpresscourierdeliverydept@gmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: MESSAGES FORM SHELL PETROLEUM DEVELOPMENT COMPANY <pbash@csusm.edu>
Reply-To: tntexpresscourierdeliverydept@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 31 Aug 2008 05:30:45 -0700
Subject: Contact Our affiliate Courier Company (TNT ) For Their Cost of
Delivering!!!
We are pleased to inform you today the 31st of August 2008 of the result
ofthe winners of the SHELL INTERNATIONAL ONLINE LOTTERY PROMO PROGRAMME in
conjunction with the chevron Texaco company,held for this year.You have
therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out $549,000.00USD (Five
Hundred and Forty Nine Thousand United State Dollars),in cash credited to
file
XYL/26510460037/06.
The online draws was conducted by a random selection of email addresses
from an exclusive list of 29,031 E-mail addresses of individuals and from
the internet.However, no tickets were sold but all email addresses were
assigned to different ticket numbers for representation and privacy.
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our
computerized email selection machine (TOPAZ) from a database of over
1,000,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world.
This Lottery is approved by the British Gaming Board and also Licensed by
the InternationalAssociation of Gaming Regulators (IAGR).This lottery is
the 3rd edition of its kind and we intend to sensitize the public.
Please you are to contact our affiliated courier company "TNT EXPRESS
COURIER DELIVERY SERVICE WEST AFRICA OFFICE" for the delivery of your
winning cheque to you.Note you are to provide to them the following below
to enable them instruct you on what to do next in receiving your parcel.
TNT EXPRESS COURIER DELIVERY SERVICE
Contact Name: Mr. Jude Anderson
Email:tntexpresscourierdeliverydept@gmail.com
Tel:+234-807-285-9479
1.FULL NAMES:2.ADDRESS:3.SEX:4.AGE:5.MARITAL
STATUS:6.OCCUPATION:7.TELEPHONE NUMBER:8.AMOUNT WON: 9.STATE: 10.COUNTRY:
11.YOUR PRESENT COUNTRY:
Yours Truly,
Mrs.Carolina Cole.
Online-Coordinator
Anti-fraud resources:
