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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million united state dollars" (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)
- ",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)
- "united state dollar" (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!
Fraud email example:
From: "FreeLotto" <caraib.nancy@rcn-radio.org>
Reply-To: mrwilliamsford@yahoo.ie
Date: Wed, 30 Mar 2016 13:43:16 -0700
Subject: Contact Online Claims Officer for your Winnings.
This is to inform you that your e-mail attached to the ticket number: 54-20-17-52-34-30 has emerged as the FreeLotto Double Prize Winner in the release of the recent results of FreeLotto- Online Lotto Style Sweepstakes. You have been approved for a payment of US$2,000,000.00 (Two Million United State Dollars) in cash credited to file reference number: TFR/9900034943/JPT.
To process your winnings please contact the online Claims and Verification Officer in person of Williams Ford via e-mail reply. For prompt response please text your Full Name, Address, Sex and Country directly to his mobile number(5015500047). Endeavor to call him to be sure he got your text message so that he can guide you through the claims process.
PLEASE NOTE: You are advised to keep your winning strictly confidential until your winning is processed and received by you. This is to avoid double claims which could lead to automatic disqualification.
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The free lotto internet draw is held every month and is so organized to encourage the use of the internet and computer worldwide. We are proud to say that over 400 million U.S Dollars are won annually in more than 118 countries Worldwide.
Sincerely,
Kevin J. Aronin
Chairman & CEO Copyright ?1995-2012 the FREELOTTO National Lottery Inc. All rights reserved. Terms of
Service - Guideline
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Anti-fraud resources:
