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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:
- "british lottery international" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million dollars" (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.
- +447045720263 (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.
- veraclaims@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: veraclaims@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2008 10:09:44 GMT
Subject: {Spam!}
British Lottery Headquarters:
Customer Service.
41 CHALK FARM ROAD, LONDON, UK
Ref: BTL/491OXI/04
Batch: 12/25/0304
WINNING NOTIFICATION
We happily announce to you the draw of the British Lottery International programs held recently in London. Your e-mail address attached to ticket number: 564 75600545-188 with serial number 5388/02 drew the lucky numbers: 31-6-26-13-35-7,which
subsequently won you the lottery in the 2nd category.
You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of US$2,500,000.00 (Two million, five hundred thousand,
United States Dollars) in cash credited to file RPC/9080118308/04 made available from a total cash prize
of US $125 Million dollars, shared amongst the first Fifty (50) lucky winners in this category.
All participants were selected randomly from world wide web sites through a computer drawn system and extracted from over 100,000 companies. This promotion takes place annually.
Please be warned. To file for your claim, contact our fiduciary agent with the below details;
AGENT: Vera Southgate
Email: veraclaims@yahoo.com.hk
Please provide her with your details such as:
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Address:
Nationality:
Occupation:
Phone Numbers:
Annual Income:
Email:
YOU ARE ADVISED TO CONTACT HER VIA EMAIL IMMEDIATELY YOU GET THIS
NOTIFICATION
To avoid unnecessary delays and complications, quote your
reference/batch numbers in any correspondences with us or
our designated agent. Congratulations once more.
Faithfully,
Julius Pennant Esq.
Secretary General
British Lottery Board
Email:veraclaims@yahoo.com.hk
Tel:+44 70457 20263
+44 70457 22081
Anti-fraud resources:
