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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. )
- "money gram" (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. )
- "consignment " (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- 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: "George Gina Lagu" <bartonin@fa.cvut.cz>
Reply-To: george.ginalagu@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 6 Jun 2014 14:16:31 +0200
Subject: I want to send you money through western union money transfer
Dearest,
My name is George Lagu am 23 years and i just arrived,
i decided to write you.
My parent were kill along with my elder brother and
right now me and my younger sister Joyce in an hotel
called Golden park hotel in Accra Ghana and am with
my late father consignment box containing $29 million
dollars and and a box full of gold i want you to be my
foreign beneficiary so that you can invest my funds for
me over there in your country in a profitable way that
will benefit us and i also like to be with you in other
to forward my education over there with you.
So what i want you to do for me now is for you to send
me five name so that me and my sister can travel to Toga
first thing tomorrow morning to send you $5000 each to the
five name which make total $50,000.i will send $30,000 via
western union and $20,000 via money Gramm to enable you make
arrangement for my document so that you can come over to pick
me and also transfer the rest money yourself.
Your Faithfully
George Lagu
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