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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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 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.
- mrdavid_mark001@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Microsoft=?ISO-8859-1?B?rg==?= Award Department<mrdavid_mark001@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:44:58 +1200
Subject: Email Draw Result 2008
MICROSOFT AWARD TEAM
Microsoft Corporation
#1 Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052.
WINNING NOTIFICATION
This is to inform you that your email has won a consolation
prize of the Microsoft Corporation EMAIL DRAW held on February 3rd 2008.Your email has won 1,000,000.00 (Great British
Pounds). Please fill the verification form below and send it with your(Ref#:BTD/968/07),and (Batch #:409978E).to your
claims agent.
PAYMENT RELEASE ORDER FORM
FULL NAME............
ADDRESS.............
OCCUPATION..........
SEX.................
AGE.................
COUNTRY.............
MARITAL STATUS:.....
ANNUAL INCOME.......
BATCH NO............
LUCKY NUMBER........
AMOUNT WON..........
TELEPHONE...........
EMAIL...............
Head Winning Claims Dept.
Microsoft Fiduciary Agent
Mr. David Mark
Email:: mrdavid_mark001@hotmail.com
Anti-fraud resources:
