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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:
- "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)
- 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.
- bbcfreeplay101@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "http://www.bbc.co.uk/lottery/" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bbcfreeplay101@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 03:09:19 -0800
Subject: Claim!!!!!!!!!!
B.B.C LOTTERY
National Lottery Results.
P.O Box 2011
Harrogate England,UK
http://www.bbc.co.uk/lottery/
Saturday January 22nd draw no. 1574
Dear Winner,
You have won the sum of 1,000,000.00 (ONE MILLION BRITISH POUNDS STERLING)
from BBC LOTTERY on our 2011 charity bonanza.The winning ticket was
selected from a Data Base of Internet Email Users, from which your Address
came out as the winning coupon.
We hereby urge you to claim the winning amount quickly as this is a
monthly lottery. Failure to claim your win will result into the reversion
of the fund to our following month.
You are therefore requested to contact immediately out Claims Department
below quoting winning number 04 14 18 24 41 44 BONUS 25
Contact :MR THOMAS BROWN to collect your winning with this
Email: bbcfreeplay101@hotmail.com
Provide the following information needed to process your winning claim.
1.Name:
2.Address:
3.Marital Status:
4.Occupation:
5.Age:
6.Sex:
7.Nationality:
8.Country Of Residence:
9.Telephone Number:
10.Fax Number
11.Draw Number above:
Congratulations once again.
Note: we shall pay your claims through Bank or Delivery please contact our
help desk urgently by phone for confirmation.
please quote your winning number.
Regards, Mrs Natasha Reid
B.B.C Department..
National Lottery Results
England
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Anti-fraud resources:
