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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:
- "fudiciary" (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)
- "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 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.
- +447011147758 (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.
- llondonuk@yahoo.ca (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- londonuk3@mail2london.com
Fraud email example:
From: Londonuk Lotto Winners <llondonuk@yahoo.ca>
Reply-To: londonuklto@mail2world.com
Date: Sun, 4 Jan 2009 05:08:55 -0800 (PST)
Subject: You are our lucky winner
I have a new email address!You can now email me at: llondonuk@yahoo.ca
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THE UK NATIONAL LOTTERY SERVICE
INTERNATIONALPROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPARTMENT
P O Box 1010 Liverpool, L70
1NL UNITED KINGDOM
Dear Winner,
We are pleased to inform you of the final announcement that you are one of our last quarter winners of the UNITED KINGDOM NATIONALLOTTERY,international online Lottery programs. held 31st December, 2008.
The selection was made from the list of over 21,000 e-mail addresses of individuals and corporate bodies picked by an advanced automated random computer search from the internet, no tickets were sold. After this automated computer ballot, your e-mail address emerged as one of two winners in the category "A" with the following winning informations:
Ref Number: Ref:UK/9420X/05
Batch Number:074/05/ZY369
Lucky Numbers: 18 15 30 31 34 43 BOUNS BALL 2
You have therefore,been approved to claim a total sum of £1,000.000,00(One Million pounds sterlings). To file for your claim, Contact the processing Consultant:
Mr. Mark Smith
Tel:+447011147758
Email:londonuk3@mail2london.com
Do remember to quote your Reference and Batch Number when contacting your Fudiciary Agent. Note: Any one under the ages of 17 years is Automatically been disquallified.
Congratulations!!!!
Mrs. Maggi Clark
Coordinator.
18 15 30 31 34 43 BOUNS BALL 2
Anti-fraud resources:
