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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:
- "yahowindowlive1_uk@zbavitu.net" (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!
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447035957927 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "YAHOO CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER NOTICE!!!" <yahoowindowliveuk1@inMail24.com>
Reply-To: yahowindowlive1_uk@zbavitu.net
Date: Sat, 5 Jun 2010 13:50:02 +0200 (SAST)
Subject: Dear Prize Winner
--
Dear Prize Winner,
YAHOO CONSOLATION PRIZE WINNER NOTICE!!! Yahoo And Window Live private
international e-games organizers and co- sponsors, Yahoo & window Live
LOTTO Group International, officially bring to your notice of the final
draw result of March,2010.Yahoo & window Live LOTTO Group
International-game which was conducted
at our international corporate office complex in MANCHESTER UNITED KINGDOM.
We wish to congratulate and inform you on the selection of your email
coupon number which was selected among the 6 lucky consolation prize
winners Your email ID identified with coupon No. MFI/06/APA-43658 and was
selected by our E- games Random Selection System (ERSS) with entries from
the different email addresses enrolled for the E-game. Your email ID was
included among the different email addresses submitted by our partner
international email provider companies. You have won a consolation cash
prize of GBP 250,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand Great Britain
Pounds) only.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE CLAIMS Winners shall be paid in accordance with their
Settlement Centers. Yahoo Prize Award must be claimed not laser than 30
days from date of Draw Notification. Any prize not claimed within this
period will be forfeited and returned to its source as unclaimed.Your
winning identification numbers..BARCH NUMBER: MFI/06/APA-43658 REFERENCE
NUMBER: 2007234534 PIN: 1837You are required to contact the Coordinator
Officer with the following details
and also send him your winning identification number for the release of
your winnings prize .
1. Full name...............
2. Country.................
3. Contact Address.........
4. Telephone Number........
5. fax Number...............
5. Marital Status..........
6. Occupation..............
7. Sex.....................
8. Date of Birth/Age.....
9. Identity card (carte identity).
Contact Person: Mr.Alex Brown
E-mail:yahowindowlive1_uk@zbavitu.net
Tel:+ 44703-595-7927
Best Regards
Mrs. Grace Sander
(Secretary to the - Co-coordinator)WARNING!
You must keep strict confidentiality of your Prize Award claims to
yourself until your money is successfully handed over to you to avoid
disqualification may arise from double claims.
Yahoo Awards Team shall not be held liable for any loss of funds arising
from the above
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Anti-fraud resources:
