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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:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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)
- "million 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)
- ",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)
- "00,000.00" (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.
- +27794123671 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)
- +27866179132 (South Africa, 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.
- johnny.brwn1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP BID LOTTERY AWARD." <zm424twtud@testzimbra.com>
Reply-To: "SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP BID LOTTERY AWARD." <johnny.brwn1@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 24 Apr 2009 07:35:27 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: SOUTH AFRICAN 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY !!!
YOU HAVE WON THE COMPUTER BALLOT
THE SUM OF US$ 3 MILLION Dollars PLEASE CONTACT
Mr. Johnny Brown
YOUR CLAIMS AGENT.
FOR YOUR IMMEDIATE FUND RELEASE
Call him on phone Tel: +27-794-123-671 SOUTH AFRICA 2010 WORLD CUP BID LOTTERY AWARD.
PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION
Today your e-mail id was selected through the computer ballot system, as a winner of SOUTH AFRICAN 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTERY.
You have to contact your claim agent for your payment process and include your personal information for smooth transfer of your fund.
Tel: +27-794-123-671
Fax: +27-866-179-132
Email: johnny.brwn1@gmail.com
For verification purpose, forward to him your claim details below;
(1) Your Tel (Mobile):
(2) Your Nationality/Country:
{3} Your Full Names:
{4} Your Occupation
{5} Your Age.
Ref: No.06 08 010 19 30 42
Batch number: 13/26/DC36.
Security code: 676
Amount Won: US $3,000,000.00 (Three million United States Dollars)
You have to contact him as soon as possible.
Congratulations once again.
Regards,
Michael Smith.
Anti-fraud resources:
