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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 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "KinMoghalu" <claimmanage@qq.com>
Reply-To: drmoghalukingsely@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 24 Aug 2016 03:38:18 -0300 (BRT)
Subject: Settlement Ready
--
Attention Honorable
Beneficiary.
We the management of ECO BANK PLC have verified
your contract/inheritance file and found out why you have not received your
payment is because you have been dealing with the wrong officials.
I want to officially inform you that we have been
mandated by the Presidency and Federal ministry of Finance Nigeria to pay you
the sum of $4.5Million Dollars through SWIFT ATM DEBIT CARD,The amount is
the payment of your over-due contract,inheritance.
Be inform, that we contacted you because your name was short listed by the
presidential committee on foreign payment as one of those yet to be paid
their contract, inheritance..
You are requested to send us the following information's :
1) Your full name and current address.
2)Your phone number
3) Your age,sex and occupation.
4) A scanned copy of your ID.
Am expecting your urgent response to enable us start processing your ATM
Debit Card.
Best Regards
Dr. Kingsley Moghalu
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Anti-fraud resources:
