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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: "International Monetary Fund (imf)" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnsonatanga01@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Fri, 10 May 2013 23:42:45 +0200
Subject: Hi
Hello
This is to inform you that we have been contracted by the Central Bank of Nigeria in affiliation with World Bank and International Monetary Fund
(IMF) to deliver a total sum of US$8,306,939 (EIGHT MILLION THREE HUNDRED AND SIX THOUSAND NINE HUNDRED AND THIRTY NINE UNITED STATES DOLLARS) to
you in your country. All modalities have been neatly put in place for safe delivery.
You are therefore required to forward your residential address, your full names, your telephone number to enable us make the delivery to you. More
details would be made available to you upon your response to this email.
Sincerely,
Mr Johnson Atanga
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Anti-fraud resources:
