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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "yahoo lottery inc" (no such lottery exists)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claim agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "million us 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)
- ",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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- 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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- ayewstanley@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "ELIZABETH FAGAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lizfagan2001@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 11 Jul 2010 22:30:51 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS !!! YOU HAVE WON!!!!!!!!!!
YAHOO!!!! MAIL
CONGRATULATIONS !!! YOU HAVE WON!!!!!!!!!!
This is to inform you that you have won a prize money of TWO MILLION US DOLLARS ($2,000,000.00) for the YEAR 2010 Lottery promotion which was organized by YAHOO LOTTERY INC for the introduction of the NEW YAHOO BETA MAIL which all YAHOO users are required to switch onto.
YAHOO! & MICROSOFT WINDOWS, arranged and gathered all the e-mail addresses of YAHOO active online customers.Nine(9) Customers are selected annually as our winners through Electronic Balloting System (EBS) without the Customers applying. We congratulate you for being one of the people selected.
PAYMENT OF PRIZE AND CLAIM
For easy authentication and Payment,your payment file was sent to Africa {REPUBLIC OF GHANA} due to the fact that four {4} other winners emerged from Africa. It has been arranged that you will be paid simultaneously with others. You are to contact our Location Claim Agent on or before your date of Claim.
Yahoo Beta Lottery Prize must be claimed not later than 14 days from date of Draw Notification after the Draw date in which Prize has won.
Note: Any prize not claimed within this period (14 days) will be forfeited.
These are your identification numbers:
Batch number........................YBM-EBS-360AF
Reff number.........................YBM-EBS-710AF
Winning number......................YBM-EBS-718AF
These numbers above fall within the agent's Location file, you are requested to contact your Agent and send your Identification Numbers and Personal Information to him;
The Email Co-ordinates are as follows:
NAME: BARRISTER AYEW STANLEY
E-mail: ayewstanley@aol.com
You are therefore advised to send the following information to him to facilitate them and process the transfer of your fund with the appointed paying bank.
Send your Identification Numbers/Your Personal Information to him immediately:
Personal Information
1. Full name..................
2. Country....................
3. Contact Address...........
4. Telephone Number.........
5. Marital Status..............
6. Occupation..................
7. Age.........................
8. Sex.........................
9. Date.........................
Congratulations once again.
Yours in service,
MRS ELIZABETH FAGAN
ONLINE CO-ORDINATOR
Yahoo!! UK & IRELAND
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