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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:
- "hundred thousand great british pounds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a 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: UKMA-74M40LA <micro@netsite.com>
Reply-To: m.s.pro.operations@3mail.ie
Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2012 05:56:15 -0200
Subject: Estimated end of year winner!
UK MICROSOFT AWARD: (CODE:UKMA-74M40LA)
Do contact the details below for further clarifications and to claim the award
sum of THREE Hundred thousand Great British Pounds which was awarded to you in
a personality test program held to honour our customers. The objective is to
make a notable change in the standard of living of people all around the
Universe, you will only be chosen to receive the donation once.
Based on the random selection exercise of internet websites and millions of
supermarket cash invoices worldwide,these Draws are commemorative as special
that you do not need to buy any ticket to enter the draws.
Ticket number 008795727498 with serial numbers BTD/9080648302/2012, and drew
the lucky numbers 13-15-16-21-34-36-(8)which subsequently won you the total
sum of£300,000.00.GBP (THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND POUNDS) for security Protocol.
You are advised to keep your winning details very confidential from the
members of the public to avoid double Claiming. Please send the following
information to MR. Clifford Antonio for your claim.
*****************************************
MICROSOFT PROCESSING FORM
*****************************************
Security Code: (UKMA-74M40LA)
1. Name:____________________________
2. Address:_________________________
3. Country:_________________________
4. Telephone Number:________________
5. Age:_____________________________
6. Sex:_____________________________
CHOOSE YOUR OPTION OF REMITTANCE
1. Diplomatic hand to hand delivery to your door step
2. Bank transfer
MR. Clifford Antonio
(Admin Secretary)
Copyright © 2012 the MICROSOFT® Online PROMOTION. All rights Reserved
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