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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:
- "claims office" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- 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.
- pacisec@madrid.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "ONCE LOTTERIA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pacisec@madrid.com>
Date: Mon, 21 Mar 2011 22:16:45 +0100
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS!
ONCE EL COMBO E-MAIL INTERNATIONAL
PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD DEPT
BATCH NO: I/67189098011/245679/1109
REF. NO: K/11278998789/908796//1109
Dear Winner,
This is to inform you of the release of the E-MAIL LOTTERY BALLOT INTERNATIONAL/WORLD GAMING BOARD. Your name attached to ticket number 219028657434 with Serial number 918735625 drew the lucky numbers of 21-70-81-82-99, which consequently won the lottery in the 1st category.
You have just won yourself the sum of ONE MILLION EUROS in the satellite software email lottery conducted by ONCE EL COMBO EURO E-MAIL INTERNATIONAL, in which e-mail addresses are picked randomly by software powered by the Internet. Your email address was amongst those chosen in this quarter. Be advised to keep your winning information confidential until your claims have been processed and your money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program. For the release of your winning, you are to contact our CLAIMS OFFICER with the information below for Clearance.
PACIFIC SECURITIES AND DELIVERY SERVICES
CONTACT NAME: DON PUYOL CAMPO
CITY/ COUNTRY: MADRID SPAIN .
TELEPHONE: + 34-634 192 252
Email:pacisec@madrid.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
