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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "foreign remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "UNION BANK NIGERIA PLC" <Department@unionbankplc.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: unionbank_plc73@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2010 10:52:08 +0100 (BST)
Subject: PAYMENT NOTICE FROM UNION BANK PLC
PAYMENT NOTICE FROM UNION BANK PLC
GB-57-58, AJOSE ADEOGUN STREET,
AFEX BRANCH, VICTORIA-ISLAND
LAGOS-NIGERIA
Attention Sir/Madam
I am an accountant in the Bills and Exchange of the Foreign
Remittance Department of Ecco Bank Plc. I am writing to you that I
discovered an unclaimed inheritance funds in my bank that belong to
you. contact me if you are interested with your full details.
Please for your information this transfer will cost you money which is
transfer charges please don’t reply if your not interested to pay for the
transfer charges as soon as the transfer is maae.
Mr. Adam
Remittance Department
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Anti-fraud resources:
