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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:
- ",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)
- "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)
- "claimsdepart_09@live.com" (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!
Fraud email example:
From: "DR TONY WOODS" <smthgate74@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: claimsdepart_09@live.com
Date: Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:20:28 +0530 (IST)
Subject: CONGRATULATION'S
EURO MILLIONS WORLDWIDE LOTTERY.
P O Box 1010 SIG.MARIO ROSSI
VIALE EUROPA, 22 00145-ROMA RM
ITALY.
(Customer Services)
(Customer Services)
FINAL NOTIFICATION
This is to inform you that you have been selected for a cash prize of
(£1,000,000.00 EURO) held on the 23th February,2010 in ROMA.The
selection
process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email
selection system(ess) from a data base of over 100,000 e-mail addresses drawn
from which you were selected. The EUROMILLIONS LOTTERY is
approved by
the EURO Gambling Board. To begin the processing of your prize you are to
contact our fiduciary claims department for more information as regards
procedures to claim your prize.
CLEARANCE NO: BL/E/05563
SERIAL NO: 5368/02
FILES NO: KIT/9023118308/06.
WINNING CATEGORY: 2ND
With The Following Details:
1. FULL NAMES:
2.ADDRESS:
3.SEX:
4.AGE:
5.MARITAL STATUS:
6.OCCUPATION:
8.TELEPHONE NUMBER:
10.COUNTRY
You are to contact the Claims Consultant:
Name: Mr.Tony Wood
Email:claimsdepart_09@live.com
Yours faithfully,
Mrs Sarah Criswell
Winner Notice
EUROMILLIONS LOTTERY ITALY.
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Anti-fraud resources:
