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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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- dept-lampardnelson@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Microsoft E-mail Promo House <dept-lampardnelson@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 02 Dec 2009 12:36:28 -0500
Subject: Notice!!!
MICROSOFT AWARD SCHEME 2009
#1 Redmond, WA 98052
BATCH NUMBER:065/088/XY24
TICKET NUMBER:023-1111-790-458
This email is to notify you that your email address was randomly selected
and entered into our free Third Category draws of Microsoft promotion.
You have subsequently emerged a winner of our users reward scheme and
therefore entitled to a substantial amount of 250,000.00 Pounds and two
Dell Laptop computer system. To claim your prize,
kindly confirm receipt of this email,by forwarding Your Details
as stated below to our corresponding agent in UK for claims
claims Agent on
Email : dept-lampardnelson@hotmail.com
Name : Mr Lampard Nelson
INFORMATION REQUESTED
(a) Your full Name:
(b) Contact address:
(c) Your Telephone and fax numbers:
(d) Your Age:
(e) Your occupation:
(f) Your country of origin:
Congratulations to you!
Yours Sincerely,
Microsoft Payment Team
Copyright © 2009 Microsoft
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Anti-fraud resources:
