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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:
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "eco-waspaymentcenter@ecowas-payment.tk" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ECOWAS PAYMENT BOARD." <chicoj@sify.com>
Reply-To: ECO-WASPAYMENTCENTER@ECOWAS-PAYMENT.TK
Date: Tue, 6 Dec 2011 01:49:02 +0800
Subject: Dear: Beneficiary your payment information
Dear: Beneficiary
This is to inform you that the Ecowas board members have decided to release
the total sum of $2.3Million as a compensation to you and you are to receive
this fund via Ecowas Payment Center.
You are to receive this fund via a Global ATM card and it is directly from our
unit base in North Carolina USA.
Below is the payment center contact information:
Contact Person: Mrs. Janice Maxwell
Email: ECO-WASPAYMENTCENTER@ECOWAS-PAYMENT.TK
Do this and keep us posted.
Thank you.
Mr.
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Anti-fraud resources:
