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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:
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "William Owolobi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ubnmail@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 1 Apr 2010 13:10:25 +0100
Subject: URGENT PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
Attention Beneficiary.
This is to notify you that a Lady call Mrs. Sandra France from United State of America call our office and said that you sent her to claim $3.5 million United State Dollar. Note that she made it clear to us that you have been hospitalize over two years now, so you decide to send her to represent you as your rightful beneficiary of the Funds.
In regards to this, this office wants to know if you authorize Mrs. Sandra France to receive your Payment of 3.5 Million United State Dollar on your behalf. Please respond to us immediately confirming you are the one that sent her Mrs. Sandra France to represent you or Not.
Finally, get back to us as soon as possible.
Senator. William Owolabi.
Chairman, DMO.
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Anti-fraud resources:
