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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "from: the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "inland revenue board" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
- "inland revenue board" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. )
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- +447011130769 (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.
- uk.inlandrevenueboard@hotmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM CENTER <dr_marktom@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 4 Sep 2007 11:04:58 -0700
Subject: LETTER OF FORFIETURE/FINAL NOTICE
MOTTO: FIGHTING POVERTY ROUND THE WORLD
FROM: THE DESK OF THE E-MAIL PROMOTIONS MANAGER INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT, MICROWEB CORPORATION WORLD LOTTERY BOARD UNITED KINGDOM.61-70 Southampton Row, Bloomsbury London United Kingdom WC1B 4AR.
REFERENCE NO: BTD/968/07
BATCH NO: 409978
ATTENTION:Winner, LETTER OF FORFIETURE/FINAL NOTICE
This is to inform you that due to your inability to cliam your cheque deposited,you are hereby requested to forward a letter of forfieture stating reasons why you have decided to forfiet your winnings, please note that this letter should be duly authenticated by you .
This request is to protect this Company from facing legal actions in future concerning this lottery winnings. A copy of this letter should be sent to this company via emial and also one copy to the Uk Inland Revenue Board in the person of Jeffery Robert (uk.inlandrevenueboard@hotmail.com) on or before the 7th September 2007.
thanks for your anticipated coperation, Once again, congratulations.Yours Sincerely, Mark Tom+44-701 113 0769CUSTOMER SERVICES DEPT
Copyright © 1994-2007 The Microsoft corporation.
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