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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
- +447045722785 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
- 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.
- infobankofamerica@financier.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Facebook <facebook@award2014.org>
Reply-To: <infobankofamerica@financier.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Dec 2014 20:50:37 +0700
Subject: Important message from facebook
--
Dear winner,
Following the results of our end of the year annual Grant Award
concluded
today, we are pleased to inform you that your e-mail address/account Id
emerged as one of the lucky winners of Facebook Grant Award and you
have
been approved a lump sum of £1,000,000.00GBP (One Million Great British
Pounds Sterling Only). Award Attached to
Ticket number: 00545 188 564756
Winning number: FB/575061725
You are advice to contact our Banker for your claims through the
information below:
Bank Name: BANK OF AMERICA
Bank Email: infobankofamerica@financier.com
Telephone: +447045722785
Provide the bank with the following information below for your claims;
1. Names:
2. Age:
3. Gender:
4. Occupation:
5. Contact address:
6. Phone number:
7. country:
Note: Please do not disclose this to any one until you claim your prize
for security reasons. We have had cases where the last winners complain
of
someone else claiming their prize.
Sincerely,
Facebook Management.
2014 Facebook Inc. All rights reserved.
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