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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)
- "www.cenbank.org" (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: "Dr. Kingsley Moghalu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <drkingsley.cenbank@globomail.com>
Date: Wed, 18 Jan 2012 01:15:26 +0100
Subject: Confirm this information
Hello
I am Kingsley Moghalu Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria. Please visit the website below to read my profile/biodata as the Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria in charge of the Financial Sector Surveillance (FSS) Directorate
http://www.cenbank.org/AboutCBN/TheBoard.asp?Name=Dr%2E+Kingsley+Moghalu&Biodata=moghalu
Following the CBN re-engineering and re-structuring payment processes in 2011, we can now complete your transfer without further delay. Please kindly respond with your full details to enable us complete your transfer.
Yours faithfully.
Dr. Kingsley Moghalu
Deputy Governor, Financial Sector Stability
Central Bank of Nigeria
Tel: +234-1-840-1378, Fax +234-1-227-0128.
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Anti-fraud resources:
