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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:
- "euromillion loteria" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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!
- 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.
- infodesk_nationaltrustagencia007@yahoo.es (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: EURO MILLION LOTTERY PROMO <jolenjones08@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <infodesk_nationaltrustagencia007@yahoo.es>
Date:
Subject: ***CONGRATULATIONS***
Euromillion Loteria Espana
Dear Sir/Madam
We wish to congratulate you and formally inform you that,the recent E-mail ballot draw held on 24th of August 2007.By the Euro million lottery .Your e-mail address won the draw in the Second category. You have been approve for the star prize of $ 950,000.00 (Nine Hundred And Fifty Thousand united state dollars.Credited to file REF:XYL /26510460037/02.If this e mail reach you,please contact the under listed claims officer for identification/verification and the eventual release of your money.
National Trust AgencyDr. Smith Gonzalez Address: Avda .Del Petroleo 222 Polig Madrid Spain. E-mail:infodesk_nationaltrustagencia007@yahoo.es Sincerely,Mrs. Jolen Jones (Zonal Co-ordinator)
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