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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:
- "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand great british 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)
- ",500,000" (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.
- +447045789781 (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.
- n.sturridge.nstc@gmail.com
Fraud email example:
From: "Clara Casadoro" <info_uklotterypromo@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: "Clara Casadoro" <n.sturridge.nstc@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 02:07:55 +0200
Subject: THIS IS THE LAST INFORMATION
THIS IS THE LAST INFORMATION.
ATTENTION TO THE OWNER OF THIS EMAIL ADDRESS
I am writing in respect to your lottery winning prize of TWO MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRITISH POUNDS (£2,500,000.00) which you won through the email ballot draws in the U.K. National Lottery Promotional Award in March 2008 in the Second (2nd) Category of our prize winners.
We wish to inform you that your total prize money of TWO MILLION, FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND GREAT BRIITISH POUNDS (£2,500,000.00) has remained unpaid by our treasury and credit office after the initial letter to your address for your payment was deemed not successful.
You are hereby requested to contact our syndicate claims' process agent and immediately update your claims process for your payment.
Mr. Nicholas Sturridge
Foreign Service /Claims Agent
Security Transactions & Trust Company (U.K.) Ltd
EMAIL: n.sturridge.nstc@gmail.com
Tel: +44 70457 89781
You are advised to provide the following information:
1. Name in full
2. Address
3. Nationality
4. Age
5. Occupation
6. Phone/Fax
Accept our felicitations!
Signed: Clara Casadoro
(Events, Draws and Promotions).
Anti-fraud resources:
