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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: phillip micheal <phillipmicheal4421@att.net>
Reply-To: mirco_financebnk@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 19 May 2010 04:00:42 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: ATTN: BENEFICIARY,
ATTN: BENEFICIARY,
WE ARE VERY SORRY FOR ALL INCONVINIENCES CAUSED YOU BY OUR EX-CORRUPT STAFFS WHO HAS BEEN MAKING YOUR LONG AND OVERDUE PAYMENTS DIFFICULT TO RECEIVE BY ASKING YOU TO PAY TRANSFER CHARGES BEFORE YOU RECEIVE YOUR FUND PAYMENT WHICH WAS ABSOLUTELYYOU N-OFFICIAL AND UN-RECOGNIZE,
AND NOTE THAT ALL THOSE CORRUPT STAFFS HAS BEEN DISMISSED TO AVOID CAUSING MORE DAMAGES AND HARDSHIP TO THE SOCIETY AND ENTIRE BENEFICIARY`S. NOW YOUR DELAYED LONG AND OVERDUE FUND PAYMENT HAS BEEN > REVIVED FOR IMMEDIATE RE-TRANSFER TO YOU UPON YOUR REPLY, SO DO NOT WASTE A MINUTE OF TIME TO REPLY THIS MAIL TO RECEIVE YOUR PAYMENT FREE OF CHARGE. REPLY WITH THE FOLLOWING:
YOUR FULL NAME:.......
YOUR ADDRESS:......
YOUR TEL:......
YOUR AGR...........................
YOUR OCCUPATION:......
A WAITING URGENTLY FOR YOUR REPLY.
YOUR`S SINCERELY
DR CHIBUZOR EZEJI
(OVERDUE PAYMENT CO-ORDINATOR UNITED NATION)
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Anti-fraud resources:
