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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:
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: MR JAMES ROBOT <jepol398@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrjamesrobot@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2018 05:59:23 -0700
Subject: GET BACK TO ME TELL +13155560735
Nice meeting you. I am James Robot from the Email Social Network
office i contact you because i have Good news to pass to you but
before i proceed i would like to ask you if any agent had informed you
of your winnings from our office?
================================================================================================================================================================
We are pleased to inform you of the result that just concluded annual
Final draws held on the (24th of march, 2018) by Email group in cash
Promotion to encourage the usage of Skout world wide.Your Name was
among the 20 Lucky winners who won $600.000.00 USD (six hundred
thousand united state dollars) each on the Email group promotion
Award.
The online draws was Conducted by a random selection of name and your
name was picked By an Advanced automated random computer search from
the Email I am your claim agent and i am here to instruct you on how
you are going to claim your winnings that is if you are interested as
you have the option to decline.
You are required to get back to us with this required information
below to enable you claim your winnings :
FULL NAME:
FULL CONTACT
ADDRESS:
MOBILE PHONE NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
MARITAL STATUS AND AGE:
NATIONALITY /COUNTRY:
YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS:
=======================================================================================================================================================================
Congratulations.... I have Just Located your File
FROM: THE DESK OF THE PRESIDENT.INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD.BATCH
NUMBER:2551236002/244SERIAL
NUMBER: 55643451907TICKET
NUMBER: 5647600545189CATEGORY: 3RD
Choose your Preferable Option on how you intend to receive your Winnings :
1) ATM (These require delivery charges and would be paid by
beneficiary So take note of these. $650).
2) Check (These require delivery charges and would be paid by
beneficiary So take note of these. $800).
3) Bank Transfer (These require Transfer Charges and would be paid by
beneficiary So take note of these. $1,850).
==============================================================================================================================================================
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