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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:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "uno_claimsdept001@9.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "United Nations Trust Funds 2009" <info@mail.thfd.gov.tw>
Reply-To: uno_claimsdept001@9.cn
Date: Fri, 4 Sep 2009 12:53:08 +0800
Subject: Winning ID............ (UNO-154/4456/011)
United Nations Trust Funds
Switzerland Department of Humanitarian Affairs
Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10
Switzerland.
Web Site:http://www.unfoundation.org/
Dear Winner,
For Clarification and Claim of $550,000 United States Dollars which you have
Won in the on going United Nations organization Promotion which featured you
as the second place winner with Winning Email ID............
(UNO-154/4456/011), Ensure you contact Mr. Michael Solomon who is our claims
Officer in Africa. (Nigeria) for more information and can understand only
English
Languages See details of him below
UNO-Online Claims Office
Contact Mr. Michael Solomon
Tel: +234-813-829-2780
E-Mail:uno_claimsdept001@9.cn
You are advised to provide the following information:
(1)Your Name,& Nationality(2)Winning email and Winning ID
(3)Tel & Fax Number(4)Sex, Age & Occupation.
Signed,
Mr. Ban Ki-moon
(UNITED NATIONS SECRETARY GENERAL.)
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