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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 beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "customercare@b-clays.co.cc" (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: "Elliot Woods" <lacabana@gallinaandaluza.es>
Reply-To: woodselliot@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Wed, 6 Apr 2011 04:23:48 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Dear Beneficiary
Dear Beneficiary,
This is to officially inform you that the United Nations has made a
deposit of $6.5 Million USD in a bonded account with the Barclays bank
Ghana in your favour. A draw was help here in Ghana to compensate fraud
victims and alleviate poverty around the globe and your email was
selected among the 10 lucky email address that was seclected to receive
the said amount via the Barclay bank to bank transfer system.
Your Ref: UN/a43/gh.
You are hereby advised to contact the Barclays bank as below.
Barclays Bank Ghana
Contact Person: Mr. Kofi Smith.
A&C Malls, East legon
Accra, Ghana.
Email: customercare@b-clays.co.cc
Phone:+233543417345
Send the following to the bank.
Name:
Address:
Nationality:
Age:
Sex:
Occupation:
Mobile Number:
Landline:
Fax:
Next Of Kin:
Regards
Elliot Woods.
UN coordinator Ghana.
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Anti-fraud resources:
