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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)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- +447024039780 (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.
- claimsagentcsweeney@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- sweeney_agent@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: ukannoucment@comcast.net
Date: Sat, 25 Aug 2007 11:04:15 +0000
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Ref: UK/7803XI/04
Batch: 03/BT25/0306
NOTICE OF CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNING!!
On the behalf of the Uk National Lottery Board, I hereby announce that
your email has been drawn winner of the Draw (#1168) of the online UK
National Lottery program held on 11th August 2007.Your e-mail address
attached to Ticket Number: 2006680 with Serial number 2378/06 drew the
Winning numbers:03.13.22.32.44.46.[26]Bonus Ball which subsequently won
you the lottery in the 2nd category i.e match 3 plus bonus. You have
therefore
been approved to claim a total sum of £468,500:00 (Four Hundred and
Sixty Eight
Thousand,Five hundred pound Sterling) in cash credited to file
KTV/6012118207/06.To file for your claim.
Please contact our Fiduciary Agent for validation.
Mrs.Catherine Sweeney
Email: claimsagentcsweeney@yahoo.co.uk
sweeney_agent@yahoo.co.uk
Telephone:+447024039780
+447024039725
Anti-fraud resources:
