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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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: "SARAH GARCIA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sarahgracia@globomail.com>
Date: Fri, 27 Apr 2012 08:30:00 -0700
Subject: Yours sincerely
My name is MISS SARAH GRACIA.I am a Computer Scientist working with Central Bank of Nigeria CBN. I am 27 years old, just started working with CBN. I came across your file marked X and your released disk painted RED. I took time to study it and tried to find out why the funds were not released to you.Make sure you indicate your file letter X and tell her its painted color Red so she will be able to recognize your file. The president made a compensation fund release for all unpaid beneficiaries/contractors. Therefore, you are not going to receive your original initial fund, the compensation fund release bonus will be added to your original fund payment. The whole funds both your initial payment and the compensation payment shall be transferred to your bank account as soon as the Original documents are cleared.Do get back to me ASAP if you are still interested in claiming your fund.My e-mail address is sarahgracia@globomail.com Yours sincerely,SARAH GRACIA
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Anti-fraud resources:
