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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 fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "diplomatic delivery" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist 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: "BEN S. BERNANKE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bensber1@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 8 May 2013 14:51:24 -0500
Subject: I HAVE BEEN TRYING YOUR TELEPHONE NUMBER.
ATTENTION: BENEFICIARY,
CONTRACT FUNDS - CREDITED FROM THE FEDERAL RESERVE AND WORLD BANK AND IMF BOARD!
We received the instructional letter to credit $18.7 Million to your
account or any means of payment of choice you want your Fund to be remitted
to you .
Your response is required to urgently enable us get this funds to you
without any further delay and you are also required to get back to us with
the process how you choose to receive your fund , because we have two way your funds can get down to you(Diplomatic Delivery, And ATM Card ) also confirm your Full Information for us to know if what we have in file is correct and
to avoid delivering your fund to wrong address.
CONGRATULATION ON YOUR CONTRACT FUND.
Please be fast on this matter. Thanks and God bless you.
Regards,
BEN.S. BERNANKE
Chairman Federal Reserve Board New York.
+1213-235-1656
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Anti-fraud resources:
