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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:
- "fudiciary" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "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.
- ymsn17@yahoo.com (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY AWARD 2010" <info@claims.com>
Reply-To: ymsn17@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 1 Mar 2010 18:17:18 +0600 (BTT)
Subject: YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY AWARD 2010
This is to inform you that your e-mail address has won you the sum of two
hundred and fifty thousand pounds (£250.000.00GBP) for this year 2010
bonaza. and this lottery promotion is organized by YAHOO&MSN LOTTORY
BOARD UK . And your e-mail address is attached to a ticket
number;564147871188 and a Serial number:547880240977. You are required to
contact our fudiciary agent with the below contact details:
CONTACT PERSON:Mr.Alfred Bradford
Email:ymsn17@yahoo.com
You are also required to contact the payment office with the below
information.
INFORMATION REQUESTED:
(1)Your full Name: (2)Home and Office address: (3)Your Telephone and
Mobile numbers: (4)Your Age: (5)Your occupation:(6)Your country of origin:
You are to contact your Claims Agent on or before your date of Claim, and
with a scanned copy of your international passport or drivers license for
official record and payment files. Winners shall be paid in accordance
with his/her Settlement Centre.Yahoo Lottery Prize must be claimed not
later than 7 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in
which Prize has won. Any prize not claimed within this period will be
forfeited and retrieved.
Regards,
Mrs.Alice Graham
CONGRATULATIONS!!! FROM YAHOO/MSN ONLINELOTTERY BOARD.
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