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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:
- "claims office" (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 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.
- financeplc@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Luxembourg Lotterien." <genevalotterien@live.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2008 09:41:20 -0400
Subject: NOTICE...CONGRATULATION
ONLINE NOTIFICATION
NOTICE...CONGRATULATION
Lucky Winner 2008 ,
FROM THE OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
BATCH NO: PBL/67189098011/245679/1109
REF. NO: PBL/11278998789/908796//1109
Dear Winner,
This is to inform you of the release of the E-MAIL LOTTERY BALLOT
INTERNATIONAL/WORLD GAMING BOARD. Your name attached to ticket number 219028657434 with Serial number 918735625 drew the lucky numbers of 21-70-81-82-99 which consequently won the lottery in the 1st category.
You have just won yourself the sum of 1,000,000.00 GBP ( ONE MILLION POUNDS STERLING ) in the UK NATIONAL LOTTERY In which e-mail addresses are picked randomly by software powered by the Internet.
Your email address was amongst those chosen in this quarter and you are to
contact our CLAIMS OFFICER for Clearance.
CONTACT NAME: MOTLEY BRANDON
CITY/ COUNTRY: LONDON, ENGLAND.
EMAIL: financeplc@yahoo.co.uk
This is part of the Country's Programme to fund for the Olympic Games in 2012 The £1.5bn Olympic lottery puzzle (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4719851.stm)
Sincerely,
MRS.RETHERFORD RENAUD
Anti-fraud resources: