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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:
- "yahoo/msn lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- "yahoo/msn lottery" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims director" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "greater london" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- ",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)
- 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.
- agent.rev.stevewalker014@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "YAHOO/MSN ONLINE RAFFLE DRAW 2010" <info@claims.com>
Reply-To: agent.rev.stevewalker014@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:04:33 +0100
Subject: YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATION!!!
Yahoo/Msn Lottery
Incoperation
Baley House, Har Road
Sutton, Greater London
SM1 4te
United Kingdom.
Dear: Winner.
We are pleased to inform you of the winners of the YAHOO/MSN LOTTERY
INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATION held as part of our NEW YEAR BONAZA. You were
attached to ticket number 025-1146-1992-750 with serial number 2113-05 drew
the lucky numbers 13-15-22-37-39-43 and consequently won the lottery in the
3rd category. You have therefore been approved for a lump sum pay out of
1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION GREAT BRITISH POUNDS) in cash credited to file REF
NO.GS/255125100%3/04.
This is from total prize money of 5,000,000.00 shared among the five
international winners in this category. All participants email address was
collected online among the millions that subscribed to the Internet. We only
select five people every Year as our winners through electronic balloting
System without the winner applying. To begin your claims please contact your
Claims Director:
CLAIMS DIRECTOR
Rev. Steve Walker
EMAIL:agent.rev.stevewalker014@gmail.com
THIS FORM SHOULD BE FILLED BY THE LOTTERY WINNER OF THE STATED FUNDS AND SEND
TO YOUR CLAIMS DIRECTOR
FULL NAME:
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS:
OCCUPATION:
DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH:
COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE:
TEL NO:
TICKET NUMBER:
SERIAL NUMBER:
Yours Faithfully
Florina .W. Bent
Award Information Officer
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Anti-fraud resources:
