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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.
- 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.
- frankl_frank@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Frank. Lee" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frankl_frank@aol.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 08:12:30 +0200
Subject: BENEFICIARY: Immediate Resolution of your fund payment.
BENEFICIARY: Immediate Resolution of your fund payment.
I hope that this correspondence is received with the urgency
and expediency required.
It has come to the notice of the Board of Trustees at the CBN
that your present inheritance claims application being handled
by the Remitting Bank in Nigeria is experiencing some man made
irregularities. To this effect, it has become necessary for the
Board of Trustees to invite trained Fund Transfer Specialists
from the United Kingdom to resolve and regularize your fund
release with immediate effect.
We at Frank. Lee & Associates have been duly consulted by the
CBN Board of Trustees and have been fully informed about how
the staff of the remitting bank has been taking advantage of
you by telling you to pay unnecessarily exorbitant charges
which will only make your fund payment a long drawn out
process. Due to this we have decided to step into the process
of your fund transfer to enable your funds to be transferred
within the soonest possible time you are to get back to us
immediately without needing to pay all the huge sums of monies
that are being demanded from you by the remitting bank.
All processes to have your funds paid to you immediately
through the CBN’s Laison Remittance Office in New York have
been initiated to cut out unnecessary costs.
You are advised to keep Trustees have asked us to resolve this fund payment
independent of the office of the CBN Governor to identify the
principal participants in this unethical payment procedure.
Furthermore, you are hereby advised to pay no further fees or
charges to the Remitting Bank in Nigeria as they shall no
longer be handling your payment process.
We shall await your immediate correspondence with your direct
telephone numbers for re-confirmation to my confidential email
address at (frankl_frank@aol.com)so that we may conclude your
payment immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr. Frank. Lee
Frank. Lee & Associates c/o CBN.
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