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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:
- "certified bank draft" (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- 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.
- unitednationspostoffice@mail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Lilian Anthony" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <unitednationspostoffice@mail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2016 22:44:29 -0700
Subject: Greetings
Greetings,
I am contacting you from United Nations (UN) Anti-Fraud Unit in regards to the extensive raid (arrests) on Internet scammers. Due to the high rate of complain we have been receiving from United Nations (UN) on the level of Scam artists/fraudsters with African nationality. All the Internet Service Providers had noticed the increased email traffic originating from African to other continents.
In this raid, three hundred and six (306) scammers were arrested so far and the raid is still on. We have recovered the total sum of US$ 1.2 Billion from them from both cash and assets confirmed to have come from their victims. As we have found hundreds of thousands of email addresses of victims from their address books including your email and address. It is at this juncture that we are contacting you.
The United Nation (UN) is making refunds through Certified Bank Draft of US$650,000.00 to you as victim. You are therefore advise to urgently contact our protocol personnel Mr. Vincent Adams on his Email address (unitednationspostoffice@mail.com) for further advice on how the Certified International Bank Draft of $650.000) will be forwarded to your disposal
As soon as this is done, the protocol director will as a matter of urgency advice you on the steps to follow without hitches
Mrs. Lilian Anthony
United Nations Anti-Fraud Unit
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