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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "microsoft lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fudiciary" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million pounds" (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)
- ",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 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.
- +447031943751 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: microsoft11@mchsi.com (microsoftcontactclaimsagent@yahoo.com.hk)
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2008 10:58:16 +0000
Subject: MAIL
Microsoft Award Notification This e-mail is to inform you that your
e-mail address has won you the sum of£1,000,000.00
(one million Pounds Sterling) from the
Microsoft Lottery 2008. Batch number: Batch: BTD/734/07 Winning number:
Ref:MSN-L/921/75G For payment,you are required to contact our fudiciary
agent with the below contactdetails:
MR. Daves Adams
Email:mrdaves_adams02@live.com
Tel: +44 (703) 194 3751
You are also required to contact him with the below information.
(a) Your full Name: (b) Contact address: (c) Your Telephone and fax
numbers:(d) Your Age: (e) Your occupation: (f) Nationality
Regards,
Mr Olivia Holland
Online Co-ordinator
Anti-fraud resources:
