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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- sen.deskservice@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. DAVID MARK" <gerawelsh@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: sen.deskservice@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 24 Jul 2010 08:37:36 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: CONTACT YOUR ATM CARD PROVIDER!!
This is to Officially inform you that it has come to our notice and we
have thoroughly Investigated with the help of our Intelligence Monitoring
Network System that you are having an illegal Transaction with Impostors
claiming to be (Mr.David Mark) Senate President of Nigeria, (Honorable Ojo
Maduekwe) Ministry of Foreign Affair Nigeria, and kelvin Young of HSBC,
the (ATM Card Number; 5110362372785535) has been accredited with your
favor.Your Personal Identification Number is 822. The ATM Card Value is
$1.3MILLION USD. We noticed that the reason why you have not received your
payment is because you have not fulfilled your Financial Obligation given
to you in respect of your Contract/Inheritance Payment.
Therefore, we have contacted the Federal Ministry Of Finance on your
behalf and they have brought a solution to your problem by coordinating
your payment in total US$1.3MILLION in an ATM CARD which you can use to
withdraw money from any ATM MACHINE CENTER anywhere in the world with a
maximum of $4500 to $5000 United States Dollars daily. You now have the
lawful right to claim your fund in an ATM CARD. You are advice to contact
Rev.Rex George via Email: (sen.deskservice@gmail.com) with the following
information's;
FULL NAME:
DELIVERY ADDRESS:
DELIVERY COUNTRY:
PHONE NUMBER
OCCUPATION:
SEX:
AGE:
Best Regards,
Mr. DAVID MARK
Senate President
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Anti-fraud resources:
