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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "claims agent" (real lotteries do not use a "claim agent" / "fiduciary agent")
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- 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: =?utf-8?Q?Dr=2e=20Cynthia=20Meyes=2e?= <cynthianewhope38@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2016 16:55:03 -0500
Subject: =?utf-8?Q?Attention=20To=20The=20Owner=20Of=20This=20Email=20Address=2e?=
INTERNATIONAL LOTTO COMMISSION
Juan Hurtado De Mendoza 6D 28044,
Cotonou Republic du Benin
UNCLAIMED LOTTO PRIZE PAYMENT NOTICE
Attention To The Owner Of This Email Address.
Winner in the 2nd category of our Euroafric free Net Lottery Promotional award draws held December 2015.I am writing in respect to your lotto winning prize of $715,810.00(Seven hundred and fifteen thousand eight hundred and ten US Dollars only) which you won through
the email-ballot draws in our Euroafric Lotto Award in 2015 in the second category prize winnings category.
We wish to inform you that your total prize money of $715,810.00 has been returned to us by our Lotto claims agent as unclaimed prize after their initial letter to your address for your payment was not successful.You are here by requested to contact our Treasury Office through this e-mail address: adamjohnsonuba@gmai
l.com for your immediate payment. Our Treasury officer's name is MR. ADAM JOHNSON, so refer this to him and contact him immediately for your unclaimed lotto prize payment.
You should contact our Treasury Officer as directed above for your payment,and do notify me as soon as you receive your payment from our Treasurer.
Thanks,
Dr. Cynthia Meyes.
President; Int'l Lotto Commission.
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Anti-fraud resources:
