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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "insurance fee " (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 ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
- "registration fee" (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 ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- 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.
- bdc_company200@yahoo.fr (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: ansellwallas09@zipmail.com.br
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2007 08:43:59 +0100
Subject: =?iso-8859-1?Q?FINAL=20DELIVERY=20NOTICE?=
Dear Friend
I am very happy to inform you about my surcess regarding the arrangment
for the delivery of your bank draft but the manager of eko bank told me
that before the check will get to you that it will expire so i told him
to cash the $2.5,000.00.
All the delivery arrangement of the $2.5,000.00 in cach has been made with
BLUE-DART COURIER COMPANY and i have paid for the delivery fee together
with the registration fee which cost me $480 except from the insurance fee
$100 which you are to send to the BLUE-DART COURIER COMPANY to enable them
carry out the transaction.
Contact them with the bellow information and they will instruct you where
to send the $100 to them,do comply with them and let me know when you recieve
your fund.
Name: DR JUSTIN EKINS
Email: bdc_company200@yahoo.fr
1.YOUR FULL NAME
2.YOUR HOME ADDRESS.
3.YOUR CURRENT HOME TELEPHONE NUMBER.
4.MOBILE PHONE NUMBER
5.A COPY OF YOUR PICTURE
Best Regards
Dr Ansell Wallas
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Anti-fraud resources: