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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. )
- "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: "Mr. James White" <ramu09130@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: "Mr. James White" <western_union22@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 2 Sep 2014 00:24:44 +0900 (JST)
Subject: YOUR FIRST PAYMENT HAS BEEN SENT
 Dear Attention,
We stopped sending your money since 2013 because of spam emails you were receiving from people that claim to be western union. We were confused about this so we have tried and have arrested some of them.
Now the situation has cooled down and we have started sending money to the whole people concerned. The new arrangement is that what you will receive everyday is $500.00 and what you will pay everyday to receive this fund is $95 everyday,
but this is the begining so you can go ahead and pay whatever you have at hand to receive it so that when you receive the first payment you will be able to pay $95 everyday. Your first payment has already been sent, this is the MTCN:567 719 6723 track it, but you cannot pick it till you send any amount as I told you.
Senders name ..... michael
Second Name:choppa
MTCN ..... :5677196723
Answer ..... Today
Question ..... How
Amount ..... $500.00
Head Office Operations Manager. Western Union Office Department
Mr. David White Send any amount you have on this below information:
1.Receive"s name .................Peter Domic
2.Country ..............Benin Republic .
3.City ...............COTONOU .
4..Testt Question ..............Hones
5.Test answe ............Trust.
6.Amount ................
7.MTCNÂ ................
8.Sender"s name..........
I wait to hear from you immediately because it is very urgent.
Best Regard’s,
Mr. David White
(+229) 998 23 278
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