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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million 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)
- "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- 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: friends <friends@idealista.com>
Date: Wed, 5 Dec 2012 22:10:13 +0000
Subject: Congratulation Your E-mail id Has Won!!!
-- Dave Dawes Charity Donation!!!
Customer Service.
Your Winning Batch No: HTMC/LTY/2901
Your Winning Reference No: BALS/029/2012
OFFICIAL WINNING NOTIFICATION.
We are pleased to inform you that the release of the long awaited results
of Dave Dawes Charity Donation is out!!!
Hello Dear Email User!!!
This is a personal email directed to you,
I am Dave Dawes, My Fiancé "Angela" and I won a Jackpot Lottery of 101 million pounds ($156 million), and have voluntarily decided to donate the sum of 1 million pounds ($1.56 million USD) to you as part of our own charity project to improve the lot of 15-20 unknown lucky individuals all over the world plus 15 close friends and family. If you have received this email then you are one of our lucky recipients and all you have to do is acknowledge the content of this email so that we can proceed.
You can verify this by visiting the web pages below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/oct/11/euromillions-couple-give-friends-million-each
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8820740/101m-lottery-jackpot-winners-Dave-and-Angela-Dawes-to-give-millions-to-friends-and-family.html
Your e-mail address was submitted to us by the Google Management Team and you received this email because we have short listed you as one of the lucky recipients, Kindly send your below details to Gold-star International Express so that they can effect the delivery of your valid Bank Draft of $1.56 million USD to you immediately.
CONTACT GOLD-STAR COURIER SERVICE NOW WITH THE BELOW INFO:
=========================================================
Mark Lee.
Head of Logistics & Cargo
Dispatcher Officer.
Email: goldstarcourierservice@cpll.cn
CONTACT GOLD-STAR CUSTOMER SERVICE
Mr Morris Murray
+44-790-2790-504
Full Names:
Delivery Address:
Gender:
Country:
Date of Birth:
Next Of Kin:
Occupation:
Mobile Number:
Congratulations Once Again!!
Sincerely,
Mrs.Anita lee Anderson,
Donation coordinator.
(Group Co-Supervisor)
ON BEHALF OF DAVE DAWES CHARITY DONATION UK®.
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Anti-fraud resources:
