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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:
- "lagos" (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.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Paul White" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrwhitepaul2016@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Nov 2012 01:18:15 -0500
Subject: Payment by ATM Master Credit Card
Dear Beneficiary
Good day?This is Mr Paul White From Nigeria,We have your ATM CARD here loaded with the sum of $4.5 million and has to be delivered to you at your residential address over there and what you have to do now is to obtain the INSURANCE BOND CERTIFICATE that has to be on your name to back up your card for successful delivery and also pay for the delivery fee of the courier and It will cost you $250 usd and that is all.
What you need to do is to re-confirm your information to us
Your full name:
Your resident address:
Your telephone number:
Here is the information of payment
Receiving name: Teke James
Receiving address: Lagos. Nigeria.
Text question: How are you
Text answer: Fine
I await you
Mr Paul White
+234-8191477141
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Anti-fraud resources:
