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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "charles soludo" (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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- 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.
- gov-lamidosanusi2012@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Sanusi Lamido Aminu" <cbn@office.org>
Reply-To: gov-lamidosanusi2012@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2012 10:44:38 -0400
Subject: CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTER
Hello,
CBN APPROVED PAYMENT LETTER.
Good to contact you this day i have just been appointed the new Governor
of the CBN and on assumption in office i have seen your untreated
transaction with my else while predecessor Prof Charles Soludo, i have
seen the records of all your payment made in the past to CBN and also have
a complete files of yours here with me.
This mail is to inform you that i am here to release without any delay
your outstanding contract payment of $10.7million usd as reflected here in
my record to you within 24hrs from when you respond to this mail.
I will want to have a one on one conversation with you so i advise you to
call me as soon as you get this mail so that i can know what actually went
wrong and why you weren't paid along with others. if you want to know more
about my new appointment as the BOSS of CBN please call the Nigerian
government,visit the Google or go to the Nigerian Embassy in your country
or also visit the official website of the CBN WWW.cenbank.org for more
details.
Re-confirm to me the followings information to enable the urgent
processing of your payment.
1. Name................
2.Phone,fax and cell number....................
3.Delivery Address...........................
4.Age,profession and sex........................
5.Copy of ID..................
6.Occupation.........................
Endeavor to call me as soon as you get this mail on my official number
below in this mail.+234-808-993-1613
treat as top urgent.
Regards,
Dr Sanusi Lamido Aminu.
gov-lamidosanusi2012@hotmail.com
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