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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "australian lottery" (can only win this lottery if you bought a ticket)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "00,000.00" (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!
- 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.
- info.kelvin@sify.com (Sify; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Australian Lottery <fairkidz@verizon.net>
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 2009 15:21:53 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Congratulation Your E-mail Have Won !!!
AUSTRALIA LOTTO LOTTERY INT'L INC.
OFFICE OF THE COORDINATOR (MRS LINNA MARTINS)
HEAD OFFICE; 6123 COOL STREET
ROAD.SOMEWHEREVULLE,AX34587,
AUSTRALIA.
Attention: Lucky Winner,
We are happy to inform you of your prize release of US$500,000.00 on the1st of December 2009 by the Australian Lottery International.All participant was selected electronically through a computer balloting system drawn from one hundred thousand emails.Your email emerged as winner alongside eight lucky other winners.
Stated below are your identification numbers:
BATCH NO:MFI/07/APA-43658
REFERENCE NO:2007234522
PIN NO:1209
These numbers fall within the West African Location file, you are requested to contact the Claims Agency with the name of our fiduciary agent in Nigeria and send your winning identification numbers and your information filled in the below form to him;
FULL NAME.....................................
DATE OF BIRTH.................................
ADDRESS.......................................
SEX..........................................
AGE...........................................
NATIONALITY....................................
OCCUPATION....................................
TELEPHONE......................................
MOBILE PHONE...................................
FAX NUMBER.....................................
Contact the Claims Agency with the name of the Claims Agent Mr. Kelvin Williams as soon as possible with the address below:
Mr. Kelvin Williams,
Email: info.kelvin@sify.com
Congratulations once more from all members and staff of this program to all that have successfully won this competition and thank you for being part of our promotional lottery program.
Signed.
LINNA MARTINS(Mrs)
Coordinator
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Anti-fraud resources:
