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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.
- 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 John M. Ego" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrjohnmego03@qq.com>
Date: Thu, 15 Aug 2013 09:02:49 +0200
Subject: YOUR PAYMENT FUNDS IS READY
ATTN:
Good day to you? Well this is to let you know that we U B A B a n k Management has today concluded loading your f u n d s USD10.5Million into your A T M M a s t e r Card and will be sending it to you as soon as we receive this following information below to enable us know where we are sending it and to avoid the card missing on t r a n s i t, so we need this information as soon as possible.
1} Your full name/address & Country
2} A copy of your identification
3} Your direct telephone number where we can get you when needed
Again, we will immediately commence with the sending of your A T M MASTER Credit Card as soon as we receive this information because your card is ready as we communicate with you through this media and we need to send it to you as soon as possible, so try to be a little fast in sending all this information to us while you feel free to call us on phone as soon as you are less busy.
Regards,
Mr John M. Ego
TEL:+ 234-8134-590-526
Director, A T M D e b i t Card Unit
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Anti-fraud resources:
