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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)
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR PAUL SMITH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <davidbethel@secretarias.com>
Date: Wed, 7 Sep 2011 21:04:25 -0000
Subject: MINISTRY OF FINANCE HOUSE NIGERIA======(DON'T BE DECEIVED AGAIN BY THOSE FRAUDSTERS)
MINISTRY OF FINANCE HOUSE NIGERIA======(DON'T BE DECEIVED AGAIN BY THOSE FRAUDSTERS)
Records show that you are among one of the individuals who are yet to receive their overdue fund. Well we want you to know that your compensated fund worth the total amount of($8.5 Million dollars) that was suppose to deliver as ATM CARD to you was return back to our Head Office due to the fact that you refuse to contact the right person with your fund. The Cyber Crime Division of the FBI gathered information from the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) formerly known as the Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) of how some people have lost out sums of money to these impostors.
As a result of this we hereby advise you to stop dealing with any one not referred to you by us. We the Federal Ministry of Finance House that your fund worth ($8.5 Millions dollars) will be released to you via a custom pin based ATM card with a maximum withdrawal limit of $15,000 per day which is powered by Visa Card and can be used anywhere in the world and Visa Card Logo must be on the Automatic Teller Machine (ATM). We have advised that this should be the only way at which you are to receive your payment because its more guaranteed, since over 500 thousand people fall in the hands of those fraudsters and was ripped off their hard earned money on fake bank draft last year 2010.
To redeem your fund you are hereby advised to contact Barrister David Bethel who is in charge of your ATM Card via email for their requirement to proceed and procure your Approval of Payment Warrant and Endorsement of your ATM Release Order on your behalf which will cost you $340.00 only nothing more and no hidden fees as everything else has been taken cared of by the Federal Government Of Nigeria, so all you will ever need to pay is $340.00 only which is legal to enable us deliver your fund to your door step.
Don't be deceived by anyone and you are advice to Reconfirm the below information that is needed.
Full Name..............
Full Address..............
Phone Number...............
Sex..........
Occupation.........
Age.......
Time for Change has come. All you need to now is to follow our instructions so that you will not be deceived again by those fraudsters.
Below is the right person in charge to contact.
Barrister David Bethel(Dispatcher Managing Director)
Email:- davidbethel@secretarias.com
Cell: +234-808-235-4336
Your urgent response is highly needed.
Best Regards
Mr. Paul Smith
MINISTRY OF FINANCE HOUSE NIGERIA
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