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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:
- "the consignment" (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)
- "trunk box" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- +447024027604 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: <police-29@o2.pl>
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 2010 07:51:04 +0100
Subject: Attn: Beneficiary.
From: The officer in charge.
Mr. Eric Cool.
Tell: +44-7024027604
Attn: Beneficiary.
We write to inform you that our security agent discovered One Trunk Box containing a sum of (US$5.5M) from one diplomat who says that the consignment belongs to you but instruction was given to him to convey and divert it to Switzerland.
According to our findings the person that sent him for this mission wanted to claim your fund to his own selfish use. The consignment/fund has been move to our bank pending when you confirm this subject matters, meanwhile the diplomat is still under our custody for further interrogation. You are therefore advice to get back to this office consigning this issue as this will enable us release your fund to you, failure to respond we will not hesitate to release your consignment/fund to the diplomat.
Regards,
Mr. Eric Cool.
(Head of Department ).
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Anti-fraud resources:
