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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:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
- western.union1250@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: REV WILLIAM JOHN <cretary_officese@yahoo.com.tw>
Reply-To: REV WILLIAM JOHN <western.union1250@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 26 Sep 2014 23:02:25 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: YOUR URGENT RESPOND IS HIGHLY NEEDED!
 Attention Dear Customer:
The board of this Western Union Office are here to remind and recalled
your mind back that you had awaiting fund here with us to transfer to
you in daily bases which Mr Victor wanted to claimed last month and
you advised this office to arrest Mr Victor because you don't know
him,then we agreed with you and you promised to pay the $45.00 usd for
transfer charge which is the only delay of the release of this payment
to you and you agreed to pay the fee since then we did not hear from
you.
So the board of this bank has planed to call back Mr. Victor to come
and sign ownership certificate of this fund so that we can change the
receiver name to his name but we stated that before the action will be
carried out that we need to hear from you first to avoid blame on us.
The total you are to receive from this bank is $2.8Million usd and
instruction said that we will be transferring $20,000.00 usd per day
which we divided into 4 payments per day to enable us complete the
transfer soon.
Finally,if it is your desire to start receiving this payment as from
today then i want you to go now and send the fee of $45.00 usd only
unless you want us to divert the fund to Mr.Victor.. Contact me on
this e-mail me back using this address (western.union1250@yahoo.com)
Use the below to send the fee of $45.00 usd only.
1)RECEIVER NAME:.........
2)COUNTRY:............. BENIN REPUBLIC .
3)CITY :............... COTONOU .
4)TEST QUESTION:....HONEST
5)TEST ANSWER:......TRUST
6)SENDER NAME.......
7)MTCN.............
1)Your Full Name:.............
2)Country and Mobile #:..........
3)Home/ Office Address:....
4)Profession and Age:.......
REGARDS,
REV WILLIAM JOHN
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS,
ECO BANK PLC WESTERN UNION DEP
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