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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million 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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Mary Hacketts" <mmar@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: <lpaymentoffice@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 00:08:49 -0700
Subject: YOU HAVE WON
Microsoft Award Team
20 Craven Park, Harlesden
London NW10
United Kingdom
Ref:MSW-L/327015002/08
Batch Number:September 13th 2009 #414
Dear Winner,
The Board of Directors of Microsoft Worldwide Co-operation Management announces to you as 1 of our 30 lucky winners of this Year's draw held on September 13th 2009.
All 30 winning Email Addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 786,000 international emails world-wide.And your email address emerged alongside with 29 others as the Third category winner.Consequently you have therefore been approved for a total pay out of US$1,000,000:00 (One Million United States Dollars) only.The following particulars are attached to your lottery payment order.
(i) Ref:MSW-L/327015002/09
(!!) Batch Number:2009 September 2nd #414
(iii)Ticked Number:214-056-278
To file for your claim please contact your fiduciary agent. Mr. Lawrence Grand who has been reffered to you in our winners database.with the following details to avoid unnecessary delays and complications:
Payment Processing Form:
1. Full Names:
2. Postal Address:
3. Nationality:
4. Age:
5. Sex:
6. Occupation:
7. Phone/Fax:
8. Country Of Residence:
9. Current Email Address:
Our special thanks and gratitude to Bill Gates and his associates.We wish you the best of luck as you spend
your good fortune.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs.Mary Hacketts.
Microsoft Promotion Team
NXVIVXLLHPXYMZNYLOMURRXIRNZCMDMUISGMWT
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Anti-fraud resources:
