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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:
- ",500,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "claimsrep.atmcard@gmail.com" (this email address looks like addresses used in "ATM SWIFT card" 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!
- 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.
- claimsrep.atmcard@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "IKOBO VISA CARD" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <claimsrep.atmcard@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 May 2013 00:09:03 +0200
Subject: GOOD NEWS FROM IKOBO COMPANY
Our Ref: IKG/NG/ICO
Your Ref:
IKobo is a company that specializes in money transfer through Visa Card.
As part of our commitment in bringing our services to the world.
IKobo Company wishes to announce to you as the final recipients of a cash
Grant worth $2.5m.We are giving out a yearly donation of US$10,500,000.00
Million USD to you our lucky recipients as a way of showing our appreciation.
This fund would be made available to you through an iKobo Visa card. We
have concluded plans to deliver this card to you as soon as possible.
If you are interested in claiming your funds, please contact the Visa card
dispatch center on claimsrep.atmcard@gmail.com with
the following details:
* Full Name:
* Delivery Address:
* Country:
* Gender:
* Age:
* Occupation:
* Phone Number:
* Means of Identification:
Best Regards
Ikobo Company
cc
dominic oniel
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Anti-fraud resources: