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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- 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!
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- barrgregspencerss@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Uk Lottery <wbmarketing@wb.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: barrgregspencerss@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 11:00:48 -0800
Subject:
Attention: Email Owner,
Complement of the season to you.We are pleased to notify you once
again that your email address won the UK Lottery Year E-Online
Promotion held today Febuary 9th 2014, You have therefore been
approved to claim the sum of 750,000.00 GBP. We are yet to receive
your file for Claims.Ticket no: 20511465463-7644.
***************************************
Claims Agent Name: Barrister Greg Spencer
Email: barrgregspencerss@gmail.com
***************************************
Claims Requirements:
1.Full Name:
2.Residential Address:
3.Age:
4.Sex:
5.Mobil Tel:
6.Occupation:
7.Country Of Residence:
8.Nationality:
9.Amount Won:
10.Alternative Email:
Congratulations on behalf of British Government Financial Department.
Reply Via Email: barrgregspencerss@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
