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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)
- "uk national lottery inc." (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",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)
- 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.
- 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.
- uk.claimdept@yahoo.co.uk
- usnlottery@yahoo.co.uk
- ukstakenationallottery@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2008 02:02:07 +0200
Subject: CONTRATULATION YOU WON
UK STAKE NATIONAL LOTTERY
AWARD DEPARTMENT.
ENGLAND
DEAR LUCKY WINNER,
WE ANNOUNCE TODAY THE EXTERNAL DRAW #3011 OF THE UK STAKE NATIONAL
LOTTERY DRAW HELD ON THE 1ST OCTOBER, 2008 IN THE UNITED KINGDOM.
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WAS ATTACHED TO TICKET NUMBER 807/510054/08, WITH
SERIAL NUMBER 99010, WHICH WON IN THE 2ND CATEGORY.
YOU HAVE BEEN APPROVED FOR PAYMENT THE SUM OF £1,000,000:00 (ONE
MILLION GREAT BRITISH POUNDS) CREDITED TO FILE WITH REF NO:
UKNL/98710/HA/08 AND BATCH NO.10050UKNL.YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WAS
SELECTED BASED ON AN INTERNET RANDOM SELECTION EXERCISE
TO FILE FOR YOUR CLAIM, PLEASE CONTACT OUR FIDUCIARY CLAIM AGENT;
====================================
DR DANIEL MORRIS
TEL: +44 (0) 70 318 50941, (0) 70 318 50936
FAX: +44 (0) 87 097 49077
EMAIL: UK.CLAIMDEPT@YAHOO.CO.UK
===================================
PLEASE REMEMBER TO QUOTE YOUR REFERENCE AND BATCH NUMBERS
ALONG WITH THE FOLLOWING DETAILS:
NAME:.........
MAILING ADDRESS:........
EMAIL:..........
COUNTRY:..........
PHONE/FAX NUMBER:......
AGE:.......
SEX;........
OCCUPATION:......
UPON YOUR CONFIRMATION EMAIL TO THE CLAIM AGENT. ALL PRIZE MONEY MUST
BE CLAIMED NOT LATER THAN THE 30TH OF OCTOBER 2008.
CONGRATULATIONS!!!
SINCERELY,
MS. BETTY MARIA WRIGHT
ZONAL CO-ORDINATOR
USNLOTTERY@YAHOO.CO.UK
UKSTAKENATIONALLOTTERY@YAHOO.CO.UK
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COPYRIGHT (c) 1994-2008 THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY INC.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TERMS OF SERVICE -GUIDELINES
Anti-fraud resources: