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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- richardgilster00@hotmail.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Richard Gilster" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richardgilster00@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 04:39:15 -0800
Subject: Dear Beneficiary : Immediate Resolution Of Your Fund
Dear Beneficiary,
I hope that this correspondence is received with the urgency and expediency required.
It has come to the notice of the Board of Trustees at the CBNthat your present inheritance claims
application being handled by the Remmitting Bank in Nigeria is experiencing some man made
irregularities.To this effect,it has become neccesary for the Board
of Trustees to invite trained Fund Transfer Specalists from the United States to resolve and regularize
your fund release with immediate effect.
We at Richard Gilster Consults have been duly consulted by theCBN Board of Trustees and have been
fully informed about how the staff of the remmitting bank have been taking advantage of you by telling
you to pay unneccesarily exhorbitant charges which will only make your fund payment a long drawn out
process.
Due to this we have decided to step into the process of your fund transfer to enable your funds to be
transfered within the soonest possible time you are to get back to us immediatly without needingto pay
all the huge sums of monies that are being demanded from you by the remmitting bank.
All proccesses to have your funds paid to you imediately through the CBN's Laison Remmittance Office
in New York have been initiated to cut out unneccesary costs.You are advised to keep this communication
highly confidential as the CBN Board of Trustees have asked us to resolve this fund payment independent
of the office of the CBN Gorvernor to identify the the principal participants in this unethical payment
procedure.
Furthermore,you are hereby advised to pay no further fees or charges to the Remmitting Bank in Nigeria as
they shall no longer be handling your payment process.
We shall await your immedite correspondence with your direct telephone numbers for re-confirmation to to
my confidential email address at ( richardgilster00@hotmail.co.uk ) so that we may conclude your payment
immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Richard Gilster.
Richard Gilster Consults c/o CBN
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Anti-fraud resources:
