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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:
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "abuja" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "mrslindahillatmcardpayout@yahoo.com.hk" (this email address looks like addresses used in "ATM SWIFT card" scams)
- 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.
- mrslindahillatmcardpayout@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mrslindahillatmcardpayout@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:51:09 -0600 (CST)
Subject: 22/12/2/10 officia notice
OFFICE OF THE SENATE HOUSE
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA
COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN PAYMENT
(RESOLUTION PANEL ON CONTRACT PAYMENT)
ABUJA NIGERIA
YOUR ATM CARD DELIVERY OPTION
Our Ref: FGN /SNT/STB
Your Ref: NIG/ABJ
Dear beneficiary
I am very glad to inform you that your email emerged as one
of the lucky winners to receive this years award of a cash grant of the
sum of $2.5 millions.
In order for the winnings to be delivered to you without
stress, we are glad to officially inform you that an ATM Card has been
accredited in your favor.Your Personal identification Number is 822
The ATM Card Value (4278763100030014) is $2.5 millions You are advice
to contact us for more information.
Email: mrslindahillatmcardpayout@yahoo.com.hk)
FULL NAME:
DELIVERY ADDRESS:
PHONE NUMBER:
COUNTRY:
OCCUPATION:
MARITAL STATUS:
POSTAL CODE:
SEX:
AGE:
As soon as we receive the requested information, we will
instruct the courier company to deliver the prize winnings to you.
Regards,
Mrs Linda Hill.
Secretary
Director.
David Mark
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Anti-fraud resources:
