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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:
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: IKOBO COMPANY PROMOTION <rosywan.cantuaria@tjap.jus.br>
Reply-To: ikobohelpdesk88@sify.com
Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2010 22:02:22 -0300
Subject: *****IMMEDIATE PAYMENT NOTIFICATION*****
--
Ref: IKG/NG/ICO
This is to officially inform you that IKOBO Card
payment has been accredited
with your favor by the ikobo money transfer
company .The Card Number 5951390123652671
Value with .5Million. You are
advice to contact Us back on how you can get
the card deliver to you. This
funds would be made available to you through Ikobo
Visa Card. Contact;
Usman Yahaya
We have concluded plans to deliver this card to you as soon
as possible. I want
you to note that you will be required to make the
delivery fee to Courier Company
which i dont know how much it will cost
you, You are to get back to this office
so that we can give you to fedex
delivery company contact on how to send them
there delivery fee
You are
to send us the following details
FULL NAME.....................:
DELIVERY
ADDRESS:...............
PHONE NUMBER:.......................
COUNTRY:
...........................
OCCUPATION:...................
..........
SEX:
AGE: ...............................
I hope you understand the content of
these email,We look forward to hear from
you soon. Funds Remittance
Department Director Of Foreign Operations
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Anti-fraud resources:
