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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:
- "moneygram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- MoneyGram money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. Along with Western Union it is a preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- moneygramb33@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Terry Cool" <scccbr@gmail.com>
Reply-To: moneygramb33@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 7 Nov 2011 14:15:41 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Contact money gram For Your Fund
Attn: Dear,
We want to inform you that your $5000 has been release today from money
gram and we want you to contact Mr. Derrick Annah immediately with this email
address (moneygramb33@yahoo.fr) Or the phone number(+229 6693 9181) here is
the information the money gram office need from you.
your full name____________
your country_____________
your phone numbers____________
your age_______________
Your occupation_______________
Ask him to give you the question and answer for you to pick up the $5000 he
sent to you, he will be sending it $5000 until he finish sending the whole
amount to you which is $1.5M USD, One Million Five Hundred Thousands Dollars,
you will pay small amount for PIN CODE before you can pick up the money but we
don't know exactly amount.
We wish You Good luck
Mr. Terry Cool
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