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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "international lottery programme" (no such lottery exists)
- 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)
- 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: "ASIAN Lottery Inc." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tessykipkalya@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jan 2016 16:50:27 -0800
Subject: Re: You have just won US$1Million
Yahoo Lotto/ASIAN Lottery Inc.
Asian/JP-Gunther, Muog Nong Soil 60.
D-96052 Bangkok Thailand.
Reference Number: AML/JP/1Million/2016/8702
Batch: AML/90/4210
Congratulations!!
We are happy to announce to you the result of electronic email Address
balloting system of Yahoo Lottery Promotion in conjunction with Asian
International lottery draw held on the 15th of January, 2016 in Bangkok
Thailand. All email addresses around the world were selected through a
computer ballot system in which your email address was selected as one
of the lucky winners. Please be advised to keep your winning
information confidential until your claim has been processed and your
money remitted to you. This is part of our security protocol to avoid
double claiming and unwarranted abuse of this program by fraudulent
scammers.
We wish to inform you that your email address have won $1,000,000.00
USD from the Asian International Lottery Programmed in conjunction
with Yahoo Lottery Promotions with Ref Number: AML/JP/1Million/2016/8702.
You are therefore advised to provide us with the following details so
that we can
guide you on how to receive your winning money as soon as possible.
(1) Full names
(2) Occupation
(3) Date of Birth
(4) Marital status
(5) Next of kin
(6) Reachable telephone number(s)
(7) Country of origin and address
Congratulations from the staff and thank you for being part of our
email account user program.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs. Tessy Kipkalya
Promotions Manager/Prize Announcer.
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Anti-fraud resources:
