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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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Co-Operative Bank Plc" (may be fake)
Date: Thu, 22 Sep 2011 05:41:00 +0300
Subject: Upgrade to digital banking system !!
Dear Valued Customer ,
Due to the recent amount of fraudulent messages that targeted our
customers recently .
Co-Operative Bank has decided to upgrade the security of our
online banking digital system .
To do this we need the proper verification of each and everyone
of our customers.
You can do this by downloading the document attached to this e-mail.
We were unable to reach you by phone thereby sending this e-mail
as an alternative.
Failure to do this within 24 hours will lead to restricted access to your account
for security reasons.
Worried your accounts may have been accessed by someone other than you - or think
you have responded to a suspicious e-mail?
Call us immediately on 0845 600 8212
(Minicom 0845 900 5960). When calling from abroad please dial +44 131 317 4597.
Sorry for any inconvenience.
Regards , Co-Operative Bank Plc.
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Anti-fraud resources:
