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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "UNITED NATIONS" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pamelayough@skymail.mn>
Date: Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:27:41 -0600
Subject: COMPENSATION UNIT
Attention:
You are advised to contact Mr:Godwin Emefele of ZENITH BANK NIGERIA PLC, as she is our representative in Nigeria, contact her immediately for your Cheque/ International Bank Draft of USD$ 250,000.00 (Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars) This funds are in a Bank Draft for security purpose ok? so she will send it to you and you can clear it in any bank of your choice.
This meeting was first held on the 8th of April 2003. You can view this page for your perusal:
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/ik344.doc.htm
Therefore, you should send her your full Name and telephone number and your correct mailing address, where you want her to send the Draft to.
Making the world a better place
Mr. Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary (UNITED NATIONS).
http://www.un.org/sg/
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Anti-fraud resources: