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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:
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- 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.
- +447024021029 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: aidris@petrodar.com
Reply-To: imf.org@excite.co.uk
Date: Wed, 05 Sep 2012 10:37:28 -0700
Subject: IMF - NOTIFICATION
Attn Dear;
We wish to inform you from our office that after thorough review of your Inheritance/Contract funds transfer release documents in conjunction with the World Bank committee on financial and assessment report, your long due payment was approved to be paid to you in part payment of US$3,650,000.00 to your designated bank account from their offshore account.
The audit reports shows that you have been working towards the release of your funds, which has been unduly delayed. We therefore advice that you stop further communication or correspondence with any other bank or financial institution regarding this fund release since the actual payment has official been approved to be paid to you without further delay.
For further details and assistance on this Remittance Notification, you are advised to contact the authorized paying bank for further directives on the transfer via below contact details:
BARCLAYS BANK PLC
Mr. Clemente Nelson
Head of International Banking Department
Barclays Bank - United Kingdom.
Direct Tel: +44-7024021029
+44-7024088205
Direct Fax: +44-8435240527
E-mail: bclaysbnk.uk@live.com
Do not hesitate to keep us posted as soon as you proceed for the release.
Yours Sincerely,
Jose Vinals
Financial and Monetary Department
IMF
www.imf.org
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Anti-fraud resources: