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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:
- "henrygreen@qatar.io" (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: "Professor Robert Miscannon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <henrygreen@qatar.io>
Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2011 12:15:16 +0400
Subject: Get back to me for your winning prize
Dear Selected winner,
Congratulations, This is to inform you that you have beenselected for a cash Price of ?450,000.00 (four hundred and fifty thousand Great British Pounds) and a brand-new BMW 2011 M5 Sedan Car from International programs held on the 1st of May 2011 in the United Kingdom.
Description of Price vehicle;
Year: 2011 Model
Model: M5 Sedan
Colour (exterior/interior): Black Sapphire Metallic/Black Leather
Mileage: 5
Transmission: Automatic 6 Speed
All Season Traction (AST)
BMW Assistant with Bluetooth® Wireless Technology
BMW Ultimate Service
Dynamic Stability Control
Electronic Damping Control
Head Protection System (HPS)
Logic7 Audio System
SMG Transmission
Vehicle & Key Memory
Voice Command
The selection process was carried out through random selection in our computerized email selection system from a database of over 250,000 email addresses drawn from all the continents of the world which your email was among the first ten (10) lucky winners.Contact the verification department by providing your secret pin code x7pwyz2011 and your Reference Number BMW: 2551256003/23.You are also advised to provide him with the under listed informations.
1. Name in full.
2. Address in full.
3. Nationality & Present Country.
4. Age.
5. Phone /Fax /Sex.
6. Email address.
CONTACT PERSON: Mr. Henry Green (Claims Director)
EMAIL: henrygreen@qatar.io
Professor Robert Miscannon,
DIRECTOR OF PROMOTIONS
BMW PUBLICITY DEPARTMENT
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Anti-fraud resources:
