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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "hundred thousand united states dollars" (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.
- engrpaulduke@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- agent email address below name: engr.paul duke, e-mail: engrpaulduke@yahoo.com e-mail: engrpaulduke@gmail.com yours sincerely, (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Agip Oil Company Lottery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <engrpaulduke@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 2010 08:16:38 -0000
Subject: Your e-mail address has won Cash prize of $500,000 USD
Batch:AGIP OIL/BB705/20
Winning no:Agip oil/662
Dear Sir/Madam,
Your email address has won $500,000 USD(FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS) from NIGERIAN AGIP OIL COMPANY LTD(NAOC) LOTTERY PROGRAM.This is a Joint Venture between Agip and The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).This Lottery Program is conducted from the electronic selection of the emails address from different sites on internet.Your email address with the number 662 in ballot boxes won the prize.Congratulations,your one of the 8 lucky winners in this Lottery program.
FILL THESE INFORMATIONS BELOW TO CLAIM THIS PRIZE
**Full Name:..
**Contact Address:..
**Phone Number:..
**Age:..
**Nationality:..
**Country:..
SUBMIT YOUR INFORMATION TO THIS CLAIMS AGENT EMAIL ADDRESS BELOW
NAME: ENGR.PAUL DUKE,
E-MAIL: engrpaulduke@yahoo.com
E-MAIL: engrpaulduke@gmail.com
YOURS SINCERELY,
Engr.Ferdinand Carl
Lottery program Director
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Anti-fraud resources: