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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:
- "million united state 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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "reply.sgt.moore@qq.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "BANK OF AMERICAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sgt.moore@qq.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Jun 2015 12:10:30 +0100
Subject: BANK OF AMERICAN
BANK OF AMERICAN
FROM UNITED STATE BRANCH BANK OF AMERICA INTERNATIONAL WIRE TRANSFER DEPARTMENT.
DESK OF REV. JAMES WILLIAMS SENIOR STAFF DEPARTMENT MANAGER.
Attention :
I received an update from Bank of America International electronic wire transfer department in regard to the sum of $12.5Million United State Dollars that was transferred into your account.
I want you to click the link below after you login your email to verify and view the transaction status and also check if the account does not have any mistakes or correct login to avoid mistake and also check the analysis.
Click the link below log in your email for easy viewing.
http://www. sweetdreamspatterns.com/index. htm
then login your verification for confirmation.
God bless you and God bless America
Await your reply.sgt.moore@qq.com
DESK OF REV. JAMES WILLIAMS
FINANCE DEPARTMENT BANK OF AMERICA NEW-YORK BRANCH.
WEBSITE: HTTP://WWW.BANKOFAMERICA.COM
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Anti-fraud resources:
