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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:
- "fiduciary agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million british pounds" (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)
- ",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)
- "bnnttmr@live.co.uk" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Lotto Coordinator" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mr.bennett1@ymail.com>
Date: Wed, 12 May 2010 21:27:47 +0200
Subject: Congratulations, your e-mail address has won.
This is to inform you that your e-mail address has luckily won you the lottery with draw number (308) of EuroMillions Millionaire Raffle draw held on the 7th of May 2010. Your e-mail address attached to your ticket number with winning number SDV403955 drew the lucky numbers: 09 22 24 27 36 05 07 which subsequently won you the Raffle draw. You have therefore been approved to claim a total sum of GBP1,000,000.00 (One Million British Pounds Sterling) in cash credited to file reference number KLA7532/05.
To file for your claim, please contact our fiduciary agent:
Mr. Bennett
Email: bnnttmr@live.co.uk
Tel: +44 20 8123 5146
Provide him with the information below:
Name:
Winning e-mail:
Reference number:
Country of residence:
website: http://www.national-lottery.co.uk/player/p/goodcausesandwinners/winnersgallery.ftl
Yours faithfully,
Mrs. Williams
Online Coordinator
N.B: Any breach of confidentiality on the part of the winners will result to disqualification. You must contact your claim agent not later than 2 weeks upon receipt of this information to file for your claims; this way your Winning Certificate and all other relevant documents/paperwork can be prepared for your prize release to you. After this date all funds will be returned as unclaimed.
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