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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:
- "federation international de football association" (not involved with lotteries)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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.
- +27786314782 (South Africa, prepaid mobile phone)
- 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.
- dr.christophercomarlo@gmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: bidboardlottery_award2008@vp.pl
Date: Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:21:55 +0200
Subject: YOU ARE THE LUCKY WINNER !!!
BID BOARD #4TH FLOOR FIDELITY HOUSE BRYANSTON JOHANNESBURG 2000 SOUTH AFRIC=
A
You are a winner of the Bid Lottery promotion, held in Johannesburg South
Africa .
You have won USD$1,600,000.00, your email address attached to the ticket
number and you fall winner on the 2nd category winning. Contact your
fiduciary agent.dr.Christopher Comarlo With this information;
Batch # 18/006/1094/LIPDA/SL. Reference #: LLI/240142/011
PLEASE CONTACT Name: Dr.christopher Comarlo
Email: dr.christophercomarlo@gmail.com
Tel: +27-786-314-782
Fiduciary Agent in Johannesburg-South Africa
Also Fill and send to your agent.
Dr.Christopher Comarlo
FULL NAME...............................
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN........................
DATE OF BIRTH............................
CONTACT TELEPHONE AND FAX...............
CONTACT ADDRESS.........................
REFERENCE #.............................
BATCH #.................................
THIS PROGRAM IS SPONSURED BY: SOUTH AFRICAN Bid AUTHORITY.AND SUPPORTED BY:
(Federation international de Football Association) FIFA SUPPORT.
Anti-fraud resources: