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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "cheque " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: Malaysian Lottery Award <info@massage.com>
Reply-To: asiapacific201@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:22:24 +1100
Subject: Congratulations............You Have Won $5 Million USD!!!
MALAYSIAN NATIONAL LOTTERY.
3420 PERSIARAN SEPANG 63000
CYBERJAYA SELANGOR DARUL EHSAN
MALAYSIA.
Ref: MY/9420X2/68
Batch: 074/05/ZY369
Attn:Winner,
This is to inform you that your Email address have won you the sum $ 5
Million USD in the Malaysia Email lottery game. You are to contact our
AFFILIATE COURIER COMPANY for delivery of your winning certificate and
winning cheque of $ 5 million USD.
1. Full Names: 2. Address: 3. Age: 4. Sex: 5. Marital Status: 6.
Occupation: 7. Phone numbers: 8. Fax number: 9. Country
CONTACT COURIER WITH THE BELOW EMAIL LINK.
Asia Pacific International Couriers
Mr.Andy Jerry
TEL:+60193672120
EMAIL: asiapacific201@gmail.com
Yours Truly,
Goh Song Keng.
Online Co-Ordinator.
=20
Anti-fraud resources:
