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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.
- fmfpolicy@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: Bank of Communications <bfcommm@outlook.com>
Reply-To: Bank of Communications <bfcommm@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 23:59:34 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Dongping Yang
Bank of Communications Co LtdFinancial Services LondonAddress: 4th Floor, 1 Bartholomew Lane,London EC2N 2AX, U.K.  Good day We are hereby to inform you we the instruction we received from the World Bank and IMF to pay $500,000 to you has compensation fee which you have  been trying to receive from Africa and with all your effort there was no  success. All our investigation we discovered that this fund was originatedfrom Africa Nigeria and you are going to receive this fund in next 2hours. All you have to do right now is to contact the Honorable Co-coordinating  Minister for the Economy and Hon. Minister of Finance Mrs. Ngozi  Okonjo-Iweala on the information below. Federal Ministry of Finance (FMF)Ahmadu Bello Way, Central Business DistrictAbuja, NigeriaMrs. Ngozi Okonjo-IwealaCo-coordinating Minister for the Economy and Hon. Minister of FinanceEmail: fmfpolicy@hotmail.com She will issue you an Immunity transfer tags and that will enable  us  credit your account immediately within less than 24hours without anymore  requirement or obligation. Thanks. Dongping YangChief Risk OfficerBank of Communications UK.Â
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Anti-fraud resources:
