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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:
- "fbi washington" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real FBI will not tell you to contact some email address. If you are in any doubt, contact an FBI field office via www.fbi.gov. )
- "diplomatic delivery" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "ddrmxw@foxmail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
Fraud email example:
From: "Assistant Managing Director:" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ddrmxw@foxmail.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Oct 2013 19:56:30 +0300
Subject: PROCESSING YOUR FUND THROUGH ATM CARD
MADAME CHRISTINE LAGARDE
ASSISTANT MANAGING DIRECTOR:
BRITISH FINANCE MONITORING UNIT/
UNITED STATE FBI WASHINGTON DC.
Attention,
This letter is from British Finance
Monitoring Unit newly established by
the World Financial Service Authority
United States Of America in conjunction
with United Nations/United Kingdom.This
body was set up to discover an unpaid
fund being owed to Governments or
Individuals all over the world through
Contract Payment,Inheritance
and Lottery Winning Prize Awards
We have registered your ATM CARD
of (USD$4.5) with With our diplomatic
delivery Agent with registration code of
(205A5)please Contact the office with
your delivery informations also confirm
to them your delivery location where
you want the card delivered to avoid
delivery error
Agent Name: Dennis Maxwell,
E-mail: ddrmxw@foxmail.com
Tel : 360) 399-6306
We have paid for the Insurance & Delivery FEE
The only fee you have to pay is their Security
fee only. Please indicate the registration
Number of ATM Master Card with your Names
embedded on it with MasterCard
No. 5428 0500 1100 4432 serial
Numbers: 2419879 and Reg. No.MCIMJ: 5148/4178
and ask Him how much is the Security fee so
that you can pay it and receive your ATM CARD.
Thanks.
Yours Truly,
MADAME CHRISTINE LAGARDE
Assistant Managing Director:
British Finance Monitoring Unit.
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Anti-fraud resources: