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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:
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "you are advise to" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: From Uinted Nations. <backup@zuiko-sh.com>
Reply-To: <imf.payment.dept@qq.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 05:51:42 -0600
Subject: Attn: Your ATM Cash Card Update!!!!
Attn: Your Unclaimed ATM Card!!!
Compliment of the season and happy new year I want to officially inform you that a file with your name, email address was discovered in my office during 2015 end of year audit exercise and this file stated a parcel containing an ATM Card worth $1.500,000.00 unclaimed since 05/18/2015 was delivered to Mr.Hart for activation by United Parcel Service (UPS), Please you are advise to contact the person for claim without delay sending him your personal details as listed below for proper verification.
Contact Name: Mr.Hart Leroy
E-Mail: imf.payment.dept@qq.com
Your Full Names:
Current Residential Adddress:
Valid Phone No:
Occupation:
Gender/Sex:
Nationality:
Country:
You can use the tracking number with the tracking site below to track the ATM Card to be sure it has been delivered to Mr.Hart since on the 05/18/2015 for activation waiting for your response.
UPS Tracking number: 1z2876490390947593
UPS tracking site: http://wwwapps.ups.com/ WebTracking/track
Best Regards,
Mrs. Bella Holbrook (United Nations)
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Anti-fraud resources:
