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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)
- "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: Skype <dgai@sspo.gob.mx>
Reply-To: debbie.frost-claims.dept@yandex.com
Date: Sat, 31 Dec 2016 19:53:00 +0200
Subject: Christmas & New Year Bonanza
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Attn: Winner
Ref: 001276397
Winning no: SK / 938 / 16PE
We are pleased to inform you that your name appeared on the Skype Lucky
Star Lottery Promotion held here in the USA and we are giving out the
Total sum of $ 1,000,000 USD (ONE MILLION UNITED STATE DOLLARS) to all
Winners for the Skype Christmas & New Year Bonanza.
Your name was selected in a raffle draw by Janus Friis and Niklas
Zennstrm (CEO and founder of Skype), we need your fast response to
Enable us to proceed with the payment. The promotion was made to make
the
World benefit from the profits made by the company and serves the
Sign of appreciation to our Skype Users. Also to help people to fight
Off poverty and to maintain the standard of living.
You are advised to contact our Director of Communication / Public
Affairs
With the following:
* Full Name
* Full Address
* Cell Number
* Reference and Winning
Number through the email provided below so that they can proceed with
The process to make your money available to you as soon as possible.
Name: Agent Debbie Frost (Director of Comm./Public Affairs)
Assistant Jack Greg (Customer Service)
Email: debbie.frost-claims.dept@yandex.com
REPLY ONLY TO (debbie.frost-claims.dept@yandex.com)
Congratulations !!!
Compliment of the season from all of us to Skype.
Thank you.
Annemie Janse Van Rensburg
(Product Marketing)
Skype 2016
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Anti-fraud resources: