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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.
- 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 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.
- inqecom020@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Benjamin Salgado Perez <0405910@uqroo.mx>
Reply-To: inqecom020@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Tue, 10 Jun 2014 06:12:46 -0700
Subject: Re:Facebook giving out Cashout
Facebook Corporate Office & Headquarters
INTERNATIONAL PROMOTIONS/PRIZE AWARD.
CATEGORY: 2ND
You have been approved to receive a ATM award of $150,000 from Facebook Corporate Office
Your winnings can be access by issuing an ATM card.
Award Reference code: FB/575061725
File number:77801209/N
ATM Code : ATM822
To collect Card ,contact and reconfirm your details to Lloyds Bank which has been mandated to give you cash outs with below details ASAP:
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Customer Care
inqecom020@yahoo.com.hk
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1 Your Full Names:
2 Your Tel/Mobile Number:
3 Your Nationality:
4 Current Country:
5 Your contact Address:
6 Occupation:
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Facebook is one of the largest Social Networking site which valued more than $100 Billion Dollars and also expecting its One Billion Users to come mainly from Mobile devices than desktop Users by this year 2014, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg has decided to boost Users and Companies a WINDOW OF OPPORTUNITY by Lottery Program and Initial Public Offer said in a press release.
NOTE: You are advised to keep your award winning details strictly to yourself and do not share it with any individual or a firm to avoid confiscation of your award winning prize.
Once again: CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Regards,
Promo Coordinator.
Facebook Management.
c 2014
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