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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.
- 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.
- +447045762736 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM" <wwwc@kazazz.com>
Reply-To: bruno.axel@xnmsn.com
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 17:23:44 +0530
Subject: YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS HAS WON
WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM
Headquarters: 60 Merriman Road
Blackheath London SE3 8RZ
England.
MARCH 27TH, 2011
Dear Internet User,
Automated notification of your E-mail address attached to Entry
number: 567560045188 has rewarded you a share of the pay-out prizes to
mark the 25th Year commemorative anniversary of the discovery and use
of the Electronic/Internet Mail. The EMAIL WEB AWARD is labeled
through the Internet Content Rating Association (ICRA) and supported
by Microsoft co-operation. Therefore you have been approved to claim
the sum of 500,000 (Five Hundred Thousand pounds sterling only) in
cash credited to file KTU/ 9023118308/09 attached to your Email
address with the following references-
Email Ref. Number: UK/WEB/960075764
Security Code: BN90668H
You are expected to fill this form and submit to the Agents email
below NOT LATER THAN 21 DAYS from the date as show on this mail.
EMAIL WINNERS CLEARANCE INFORMATION
=========================================================
FULL NAME OF WINNER...................................
CURRENT ADDRESS.......................................
COUNTRY OF RESIDENT...................................
NATIONALITY (if different from above).................
SEX................................
AGE................................
VALID DAY TIME TELEPHONE No................................
MARITAL STATUS........................................
OCCUPATION............................................
HOW OFTEN DO YOU USE THE INTERNET.......................?
=========================================================
CLAIMS AND VERIFICATION CONTACT AGENTS
Mr. Bruno Axel
EMAIL; bruno.axel@xnmsn.com
Tel: +44 704 576 2736
We strongly advise that you keep your award notifications, reference
numbers confidential and away from the general public. This is part of
our precautionary measure to avoid loss of award. Please NOTE that
only claims within the time stipulated period will remain valid.
Congratulation and best wishes.
yours faithfully,
(Mrs. Lynnette Chadwick)
Online Coordinator for EMAIL WEB AWARD INTERNATIONAL PROGRAM "The
Email Web Award" is a trademark of the EMAIL DOMAIN CENTRAL
REGISTRATION COUNCIL AND THE WORLD WIDE WEB CONSORTIUM. Copyright
1985-2011. All rights reserved. Terms of Service and Guidelines Apply
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