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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "western union" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
- info.westernuniongoldcard01@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Western Union Pay-out Gold card." <interl.w.uniongoldcard@wss-id.org>
Reply-To: info.westernuniongoldcard01@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 1 Apr 2011 13:28:15 +0100 (BST)
Subject: GOLD CARD --
Attention Please.   Â
   Thank you for accepting my email we receive the email and the informations you sent, Your fund is $100.000.00 United States Dollars. and your Western union Gold card will be at your doors step within the Next 1hours as soon as we receive the requested fee by today. Please note that we have meetting again today again about this issue and about your fund that is heldup by our western union Gold card office, Please i am giving you a word of advice for the last time that as soon as you can send this fee of $31 today, your gold card will be at your destination address by fiist thing this morning as soon as you can comply today. Please try to help out with this you know that i have try all my best and you too. Please try all you can to see that you do some thing now so that we can finalize every things. I promise you that this will be the last payment to finalize every things and your Gold card will be sent to you today without any further delay non
story again. Please try to understand me clear.
Â
You are advice to send the fee with the below details by Western union only: Payment should be made via Western union only with my name below.
Â
1. RECEIVER NAME... Onyekachi James
2. COUNTRY... BENINÂ REPUBLIC.
3. CITY... COTONOU .Add : 11 Missebo cotonou 2 Cotonou -Benin.
5. TEXT QUESTION... what colour  TEXT ANSWER... white
7.Amount … $31
Forward the MTCN NUMBER xxx xxx xxx x.
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Please email us back at Email: info.westernuniongoldcard01@gmail.com OR You call me for more explaination. I will make sure i do my best to see that you receive your card by today without any further delay again. Please note that as soon as you send this money today, this will be the final and nothing more again. I promise that i will keep my word this time and you will receive your Western union Gold card by tomorrow morning. Please reconfirm me your full details and your home address without any further delay again. Please Via the attachement of your Gold card and get back to me. Please call me now so that we can finishup every things by today without any further delay again.
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Waiting to hear from you soon.
Best regards,
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Anti-fraud resources:
