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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "lagos" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "MRS CECILIA IBRU" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <atm_oceanicintllll@hotmail.com>
Date: Sun, 10 Apr 2011 04:13:05 -0500
Subject: FROM THE DESK OF MRS CECILIA IBRU
FROM THE DESK OF MRS CECILIA IBRU
DIRECTOR,FOREIGN OPERATIONS DEPARTMENT,
OCEANIC BANK INTERNATIONAL
LAGOS-NIGERIA.
Attn: Beneficiary,
We hereby officially notify you about the present arrangement to pay you your over due contract/inheritance funds which you could not complete the process of the released of your transfer pin code through the Digital Payment System. We have decided to pay your funds without any requested fee but through (ATM Master Express Credit Card) This arrangement was initiated/constituted by the World Bank and Paris Club, due to fraudulent activities going on within the African Region.
The World Bank and Paris Club introduced this payment arrangement as to enable our contractors/inheritance beneficiary to receive their funds without any interference. the ATM Master Express Credit Card was contracted and powered by GOLD CARD WORLD WIDE.
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Anti-fraud resources:
