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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "united state dollar" (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: "Mr Thomson Lucas" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <uba@paramountweb.com.au>
Date: Thu, 9 Feb 2017 22:30:09 +1030
Subject: Payment Notice
ATM PAYMENT CENTRE
UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA BENIN REPUBLIC
ADDRESS: C/316 Immeuble kaffo, Porto Novo, Benin
Branch Manager: Mr Thomson Lucas
E-mails: uba@paramountweb.com.au
Dear Sir/Madam
We have instructions to credit your Atm/Debit Card today with the sum
of Nine hundred and seventy thousand united state dollars($970,000) as
a part payment of all pending payments owed by the Bank, It is a
yearly routing to offset all unpaid contract, inheritance and winnings
that has been approved for payments without obligations. kindly
reconfirm your payment details. and your account will be credited in
48 hours from the moment we confirm your details.
Send the information in this order:
(1) Your full names :---------------
(2) personal or official contact address:----------------------------
(3) Home or Office phone#:------------------ Cellphone#:---------
Fax#:---------
(4) Your Age:------------------------
(5)Occupation:-----------------------
(6)Sex/Marital status:---------------
(8)A recent passport photo:---------------
Congratulations.
Sincerely Yours
Mr Thomson Lucas
UBA BRANCH MANAGER
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
www.avast.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
