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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "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)
- "i have a new email address!" (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- 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.
- shelleythomas43@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- acount@homs.cc (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: Acount@homs.cc
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2008 11:03:12 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Your Have Won The S/A 2010 WORLD CUP LOTTO PROMO
I have a new email address!You can now email me at: shelleythomas43@yahoo.com
MRS SHELLEY THOMAS
BOARD MEMBER S/A LOTTERY
LOTTERY DREW MANAGER
- DEAR INTERNET USER, WE HAPPILY ANNOUNCE AND CONGRATULATE YOU, THAT YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS HAVE WON THE 2010 SOUTH AFRICAN WORLD CUP LOTTERY PROMO HELD THIS WEEK IN LONDON,INCONJUNTION (WITH MTN) THE OFFICIAL SPONSERS OF THE 2010 SOUTH AFRICAN WOLRD CUP,YOUR EMAIL IS ATTACHED TO TICKET NO: B75904546 220 WINNING NO:04/07/24/25/40/42, CUSTOMER SERVICE: 480 NCA1068REF: ZAWC/2010/WWW/04BATCH: 14/8052/DC04 TO FILE ZA/621825/04 WITH A PRIZE WINNING AMOUNT OF USD$500,000.00(FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) YOU ARE TO CONTACT OUR CORRESPONDING CLAIM/PAYMENT OFFICER WHO WILL FACILITATE THE RELEASE OF YOUR PRIZE MONEY,.(NAME) MR. ROLAND MAGEZA EMAIL: Acount@homs.cc REMEMBER WHEN CONTACTING HIM TO ATTACH YOUR WINNING INFORMATIONS AND YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, TEL/FAX, AGE & OCCUPATION, YOU ARE HEREBY ADVISED TO COMPLY FULLY WITH THE CLAIM REQUIREMENTS.NOTE ALL WINNERS MUST CLAIM THEIR PRIZE MONEY WITHIN 15 DAYS,ONCE AGAIN,CONGRATULATION.
Anti-fraud resources: