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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:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "cotonou" (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.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
Fraud email example:
From: "Western Union Pay-out Gold card." <interl.w.uniongoldcard@wss-id.org>
Reply-To: info.westernuniongoldcard01@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 24 Jun 2011 17:24:19 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Western Union Gold Card.
Attention Please. Â
   Thank you for accepting my email, Your fund is $100.000.00 United
States Dollars. and your Western union Gold card will be at your doors
step within the next 1hr as soon as we receive the requested fee by
today. Please note that we have meetting yesterday again about this
issue and about your fund that is heldup by our western union Gold
card office, Please i am giving you a word of advice that as soon as
you can send this fee of $36 today, your gold card will be at your
destination address by fiist thing tomorrow morning. Please try to
help out with this you know that i have try all my best and you too.
Please try all you can to see that you do some thing now so that we
can finalize every things. I promise you that this will be the last
payment to finalize every things and your Gold card will be sent to
you today without any further delay non story again. Please try to
understand me clear.
You are advice to send the fee with the below details by Western union
only: Payment should be made via Western union only with my name
below.
1. RECEIVER NAME... ONYEKACHI JAMES
2. COUNTRY... BENINÂ REPUBLIC.
3. CITY... COTONOU .Add : 11 Missebo cotonou 2 Cotonou -Benin.
5. TEXT QUESTION... what colour  TEXT ANSWER... white
7.Amount … $36
Forward the MTCN NUMBER xxx xxx xxx x.
Please email us OR You call me for more explaination. I will make
sure i do my best to see that you receive your card by today without
any further delay again. Please note that as soon as you send this
money today, this will be the final and nothing more again. I promise
that i will keep my word this time and you will receive your Western
union Gold card by today morning. Please reconfirm me your full
details and your home address without any further delay again. Please
Via the attachement of your Gold card and get back to me. Please call
me now so that we can finishup every things by today without any
further delay again.
Waiting to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
Ganesh Amoorthy
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