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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.
- 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.
- jimovia884@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "United Nations" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jimovia884@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Aug 2010 01:35:44 +0100
Subject: Un Good News...
Attn:
How are you today and hope all is well with you and your family?You may not
understand why this mail has been sent to you but i will implore you to take your time
to carefully go through this mail.
We have had meetings for the pass 7 months which ended 4 days ago at
our office head quarters in New York(UNITED NATIONS). This email is to all the
people that have been scammed in any part of the world,the UNITED
NATION has agreed to compensate them adequately with the sum of US$ 100,000.
This includes every foreign contractor that has not received their
contract sum and people that have had unfinished transactions as regards international bank transfers or
international businesses that failed due to Government problems etc.
We found your name on our list and that is why we are contacting you.This has
been agreed upon and has been signed. You are advised to contact Mr. Jim Ovia of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC as he is our representative in Nigeria, contact him immediately for your Cheque/International Bank Draft of USD$ 100,000. This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose,so he will send it to you and you can clear it at any bank of your choice.
Therefore you must ensure to send him your full Name and telephone number current
mailing address as regards receiving your draft.
Contact:Mr. Jim Ovia immediately for your Cheque:
Person to Contact Mr. Jim Ovia
Email: jimovia884@gmail.com
Thanks and God bless you and your family.Hoping to hear from you as soon as you
cash your Bank Draft.
Making the world a better place.
Regards,
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General(UNITED NATIONS)
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Anti-fraud resources:
