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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:
- "skynet@omail.hu" (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!
Fraud email example:
From: "EURO MILLION MEGA LOTTERY E-MAIL INTERNATIONAL AWARD" <info.emm@lottery.org>
Reply-To: skynet@omail.hu
Date: Wed, 6 Jul 2011 22:18:08 +0300
Subject: YOU HAVE WON =?iso-8859-1?Q?=801.5MILLION_EUROS?=
Euro Million Mega Lottery Game,
South East Asia Promo!!!
*******************************
Dear Lucky Winner,
Congratulations as we announce to you that your email has been
shortlisted winner of €1.500.000.00 (One, Million Five Hundred Thousand
Euros)in the South East Asia EURO MILLION MEGA LOTTERY E-MAIL
INTERNATIONAL AWARD On-line promotions program held this last quarter of
year.
NOTE: To file for your claim, Kindly contact our South East Asia
Affiliated Claim Dispatch Agent, via information's below with the
requested information's.
CONTACT COURIER AGENT WITH THE BELOW EMAIL LINK.
Claim Officer: Mr. Evans Lee
E-mail: skynet@omail.hu
Contact Direct Line: 0060129115890
**************************************************
Find below your winning Reference Secret details. Remember to quote these
numbers in your correspondence to your claim's Officer Mr. Evans Lee.
**************************************************
(1) Ref No.KTU/9023118308/03/EMM
(2) Batch No: JBSH/10/JB/EMM
(3) Lucky No: 14-30-32-35-49
(4) Serial No: SHPTL/5368/306
**************************************************
VERIFICATION AND FUNDS RELEASE FORM.
1. Full Name:...............................
2. Address:.................................
3. Occupation:..............................
4. Language:................................
5. Nationality:.............................
6. Tel/Fax:.................................
7. Sex/Age:.................................
Once again On-behalf of staff and Managements CONGRATULATIONS!
Sincerely,
On-line Co-ordinator.
South East Asia Euro Million Mega Lottery Promo.!
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