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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:
- "suite 23-30,lion towers"
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand 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)
- 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.
- +447075023567 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- +447031970067 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- walker_financial@myway.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: althomas67@smxbox.com
Reply-To: walker_financial@myway.com
Date: Thu, 22 Jun 2006 13:34:25 -0400
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
THE FREE LOTTO COMPANY
UK OFFICE
SUITE 23-30,LION TOWERS
CENTRAL LONDON
ENGLAND
www.freelotto.com
Dear Winner,
My name is Ms.Alice Thomas and on the behalf of FREE LOTTO COMPANY OF
UNITED KINGDOM,I wish to announce you as one of the 10 lucky winners
in the freeLotto FIFA World Cup draw held on the 16th of June, 2006.
All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of
50,000,000 international mails.Your email address emerged alongside 9
others as a 2nd category winner in this year's Annual Free Lotto Draw.
Consequently,you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of
$400,000.00 (Four Hundred thousand United States Dollars).The
following particulars are attached to your lotto payment order:
(i) Winning numbers: 37-13-43-85-67-11
(ii) Email ticket number: FL754/22/76
(iii) Lotto code number: FL09622UK
(iv) The file Ref number:FL/04/736207152/UK
Please contact the underlisted claims officer as soon as possible for
the immediate release of your winnings:
MR. MAURICE BRUCE
WALKER FINANCIAL SERVICES LTD.
14 BRIDGE ROAD
STOKESLEY
MIDDLESBOROUGH
CLEVELAND
TS9 5AA
UNITED KINGDOM
TEL: +44- 703-197-0067
FAX: +44-707-502-3567
EMAIL: walker_financial@myway.com
Once again on behalf of all our staff, CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Sincerely,
Ms.Alice Thomas
Anti-fraud resources:
