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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:
- "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: "John Bong." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <john_bong01@yahoo.fr>
Date: Mon, 5 Sep 2011 10:52:05 -0700
Subject: VERY URGENT
Attn: Beneficiary,
Did you receive the mail I sent to you? your ATM CARD which has your inheritance payment of $1m is ready for your inheritance payment but one Mrs.Smith send email to us that you are dead and unauthorize to claim the fund.Please email to clarify us before this ATM Card will be release to her.If you are not dead,you send this information to us so that we begin the transfer immediately.This is the information.
1.Your full name :
2.Your address of locations:
3.Your Direct Cell phone number:
Regards,
John Bong.
Central bank of Nigeria.
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Anti-fraud resources:
