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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "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!
Fraud email example:
From: "BLACKBERRY MOBILE PLANET INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION
2010"<blackberrys.promotion@europe.com> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 15:55:45 -0600
Subject: -:YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IS AWARDED THE SUM OF (USD 400.000.00) FOUR
HUNDRED
DEAR WINNER,
YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS IS AWARDED THE SUM OF (USD 400.000.00) FOUR HUNDRED
THOUSAND UNITED STATES DOLLARS . BY BLACKBERRY MOBILE NET INTERNATIONAL PROMOTION 2010.
YOU ARE REQUESTED TO SEND YOUR FULL DETAILS BELOW WITH YOUR PAYMENT
CODE:BLKUK672W. FOR CLAIM.
(1) FULL NAME:
(2)CONTACT ADDRESS:
(3) CITY:
(4) STATE:
(5) COUNTRY:
(6) CONTACT TELEPHONE:
(7) OCCUPATION:
(8 ) AGE:
(9) SEX:
(10) DO YOU HAVE BLACKBERRY PHONE? :
CONGRATULATIONS TO BE AMONG THE LUCKY WINNER OF OUR ON GOING NET PROMO .
MR TRINOTH BATARA
PUBLIC RELATION BLACKBERRY MOBILE NET PROMOTION 2010
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Anti-fraud resources: