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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:
- "deadline" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "mr.andybenson03@8u8.hk" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- 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!
Fraud email example:
From: "Office Of The Senate" <alfeu@netbandalarga.com.br>
Reply-To: mr.andybenson03@8u8.hk
Date: Sun, 27 Sep 2009 02:40:27 +0100
Subject: Our Ref: FGN /SNT/STB
Office Of The Senate House
Federal Republic of Nigeria
Committee on Foreign Payment
(Resolutions Panel on Contract Payment)
Ikoyi-Lagos,Nigeria.
Our Ref: FGN /SNT/STB
Your Ref: FGN/WPL/QXL
Attention Beneficiary:
Congratulations as we bring to your notice the winning notice from the office
of the senate.Your email address attached drew the lucky winning number and
you have emerge the beneficiary of $800.000.00 USD(Eight Hundred Thousand
Dollars) in cash credited to code number (M17269). Be inform that your
Donation funds of $800.000.00 USD has been deposited in our affiliated bank.
You are advice to go ahead and contact the bank for the transfer of your
total funds which by now has already been encoded in a bank transfer code.
Once again congratulation.
Winning Number: (06000123) Batch Number: (V400973100) Serial Number:
(XVJL290XX).All you need to do now is to visit the Transfering bank with the
details below to enable them commence with the transfer:
CONTACT DETAILS TO OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL PLC.
=============================================
OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL.
Waterfront Plaza, 270 Ozumba Mbadiwe Avenue,
P. O. Box 75073, Victoria Island, Lagos.
Tel: {+234}-7061-927-040
Fax:01-2705066
CONTACT: Mr. Andy Benson
EMAIL: mr.andybenson03@8u8.hk
CUSTOMER CARE DEPARTMENT.
PROVIDE THE BANK WITH THE BELOW DETAILS FOR TRANSFER PROCEEDINGS:
================================
[1]. Full Names:
[2]. Home Address:
[3.] Age.
[4]. Sex:
[5]. Occupation:
[6]. Phone Number:
[7]. Nationality:
[8]. Country:
================================
When sending an email to the accounts department you should note the
following. You should write the bank and let them know you wish to
Transfer your donation funds to your account. You should supply them
with the encoded transfer code worth $800.000.00 USD (M17269) Again the
code is M17269
Remember that after they must have opened up a new bank account for
you. You will then be able to login and transfer your money from online
to your country. Note that you only have a deadline of two weeks from
now to complete the transfer of your prize money.Therefore you
shouldact as quickly as possible.
Once again congratulations and Enjoy Your Funds.
Kindest Regards,
(Sen). David Mark
Senate President.
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Anti-fraud resources:
