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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)
- "international remittance department" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ubah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <zenith.zenithbank.bank359@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:56:18 -0600
Subject: hello
RE:PAYMENT RELEASE OF$15.5 MILLION DOLLARS
My name is Dr keneth Ubah the new Director International Remittance
Department Zenith International Bank Plc.
This is to inform you that we receive a payment instruction and go ahead
order from the Central Bank Of Nigeria (CBN) and from office of the new
president to release your over due contract payment, please we want to
know if you give MR ALI MOHAMMED go ahead other to change your banking
information’s because he gave us the new account bellow to change your
banking information, please let us know if you are aware of this.
see the attached file for more information.
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Anti-fraud resources:
