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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",500,000" (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)
- "nlcldpt2009@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Award Notification" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nlcldpt2009@yahoo.cn>
Date: Sun, 13 Dec 2009 11:19:36 -0800
Subject: Ref Number: 80 ES 9414
Dear Internet User,
This Email is to inform you that you emerged a winner in Category (A) with
the sum of $2,500,000.00USD on our online lottery draws.Your email address is
identified with Batch Number:444821545-NL/2009 and Ticket
Number:PP3812/2009-09 in Category (A) and your claims portfolio is
filed with Ref Number: 80 ES 9414.For further Information about
your Winnings,contact our Lottery claims agent with the following
contact Address.
CLAIMS AGENT.
Name: Martins Ward
Tel:+31 619 551 210
Email: nlcldpt2009@yahoo.cn
You are advised to provide him with the following information:
First name:
Last Name:
Telephone/Fax number:
Nationality:
Age:
Occupation:
Congratulations!!! And thank you for being a user of the World Wide
Web.
Yours Faithfully,
Mrs.Sullivan Susan
Lottery Coordinator.
Thank you and congratulations!!!
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