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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "national lottery promotion" (no such lottery exists)
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "NOKIA CONNECTING PEOPLE PROMOTION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nokia_customaryserviecs@yahoo.cn>
Date: Wed, 31 Aug 2011 16:01:48 +0800
Subject: NOKIA CONNECTING PEOPLE LOTTERY PROMOTION
World University Games in China.
Nokia International lottery promotion
Nokia Conecting People Promotion.
35 Tanfield Road Tiaxiu Shenzhen, china
PRIZE AWARD NOTIFICATION
We are pleased to inform you of the announcement made today, You are among the winners of the World University Games in China in Promotion by Nokia Conecting People.
We are happy to inform you that you are our second prize winner and you won fund of the sun of US$850,000.00 (Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollar) at this promo. Your ticket number is NOK81124TF. Please take note of your ticket number as it will be needed for verification.
To receive your prize money as soon as possible, simply fax us the following information for verification:
1. Your Full Names
2. Residential Address
3. Phone number
4. Fax number
6. Occupation
7. Ticket number
Your prize money will be released to you as soon as you have faxed the above information to our office for verification.
Bear it in mind that you won big in this promo because you are one of our valuable customers. However, if you wish to decline the receipt of your prize money, you are to notify us on time so that the opportunity will be given to another Nokia phone user.
WARNING: Confidentiality should be accorded at all times. You are expected to keep the news of your winning and your ticket number to yourself until you have received your prize money. This is to avoid false claims and abuse of the program.
You can call +8613415937354 if you wish to speak to someone from our office.
Congratulations!!!
Mr. Cheng Wene
Chief Financial Officer
Nokia Corporation - China
Tel: +8613415937354
Web: http://www.nokia.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
