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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "to your nominated bank account" (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)
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "dr.stevemichael@post.ro" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "DR. STEVE MICHAEL" <peanutj59@rogers.com>
Reply-To: dr.stevemichael@post.ro
Date: Fri, 26 Mar 2010 03:37:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: From Auditing and Accounting Unit
Auditing and Accounting Unit
Foreign Operations Department
Central Africa Bank Benin ,Cotonou Branch
Republic of Benin.
My Contact Email: dr.stevemichael@post.ro Registered No: 973008 Cotonou .
Private Mailbag: M2 3LS: cable: lsbank.
Dear Friend
Since your fund has met all the conditions required for its remittance,
mysubordinate and I in the computer/telex section has resolved to transfer your fund to your nominated bank account.
We have perfected a plan to activate the transfer of your fund which is presently on deferred schedule in our system" within the next few days if you assent to ourinstructions. You will provide us with the belowinformation to enable further completion of your fund wire transfer:
Beneficiary's Full name:
Address:
Tel:
With the above information, the whole exercise will take us approximately 72hours from the date we receive these details.
Yours faithfully,
Dr Steve Michael
Office of the Paymaster General
For: Central Africa Bank Of Cotonou,
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Anti-fraud resources:
