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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "western union" (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. )
- "cotonou" (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.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the 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.
- benincourt@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: MR DAVID JIM <mark.johnson3@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: benincourt@yahoo.fr
Date: Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:25:05 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: THIS IS GOOD NEWS TO YOU FROM BENIN HIGH
THIS IS GOOD NEWS TO YOU FROM BENIN HIGH
Hello My Dear friend how are you doing today I hope all is well with you .
This is Good News to you from Benin High we want to let you know that your Fund $1.2
million is ready now to release to you without any more problem or any more Delay because everything about your fund has be don .
and we don’t want you to lose your fund because you have try so many times to receive your fund from western union and money gram office which them fail to release your fund to you .so we now decided to release your fund through our office here to avoid losing more money from them due to we have come to end of this year project .
we now decided to use this opportunity to release your fund before this year end so we want you to forward your full information were you want your fund to be sent to you such as your home adders and your phone number to enables us call you as soon as your fund is ready remember it will only cost you only $55 for transfer fee .
the reason why we need this money is to use it to transfer your fund into your Bank account or any were you chose to receive your fund that is only money we need from you because your payment file is already renewed and signed .
so we don’t want you to lose this opportunity because this is last opportunity you have to receive fund this year and we don’t want you to fail it ok .so try your possible best and send this transfer fee to enable us transfer your fund into your account without any more delay .
here is the payment information which you will use to send the needed fee of $55.00
Receiver's name_____ MR SAM CHIKA
Country______Benin Republic.
City_______Cotonou
Text Question______Yes
Answer______Now
Amount______$55.00
As we are waiting to hear from you receive this email with the payment infromation to enable you start receiving your fund with any more delaying ok
COTACT US WITH THIS EMAIL(benincourt@yahoo.fr)
Thanks, MR DAVID JIM
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Anti-fraud resources:
