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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- bankofamericaboaonlinebanking@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "From the desk of Mr. Andre green" <u.western83@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: bankofamericaboaonlinebanking@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 11 Oct 2014 12:52:13 +0100
Subject: From the desk of Mr. Andre green, Senior Advocate of Benin Republic.
>From the desk of Mr. Andre green, Senior Advocate of Benin Republic.
I am glad to announce to you today that a new payment policy
has been adopted and you have been short listed for payment via Online
Banking,
So kindly urgent contact Bank of America (BOA) where the funds approve by United state government to transfer online into your account and you are to assure you follow there online payment instruction to make sure the transaction goes successful.
Below is the contact information of Bank of America (BOA):
Contact Person: Mr. Brian Moynihan
E-mail: bankofamericaboaonlinebanking@yahoo.com
Phone: +19202494164
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Andre Green
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Anti-fraud resources:
