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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:
- "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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- 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 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.Joseph Aminu" <off.file4321345@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: woffice40@ymail.com
Date: Wed, 6 Feb 2013 21:37:25 +0800 (CST)
Subject:
Attention My Dear,
This is to inform you that your ($980,000.00 USD) will be
send to you via
western union money
transfer. The total amount mentioned above is with
western union outlet and
they will send the money via western union to
you. Note you will be receiving
$5,000 every day . Therefore i want
you to email Mr. George Ambrose. the
western union supervisor and ask him
to give you the MTCN you need to pick up
the first $5,000 today.
Call Mr. George Ambros. now and ask him to give you
mtcn and every other
information you need to pick up your $5,000 today. Here
is what he may
require from you..
Your Receiver Name...
Your
Country.....
Tel;........
Age.......
Address............
text
Question.....
Answer.........
Note: that the only money you will send
to them is for there
transferring charge which will cost you only $96 Contact
him now on
this web-mail address:(woffice40@ymail.com) tele phone.+229-986-815-97
Contact person Mr. George Ambrose.
Thanks, Mr.Joseph
Aminu
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