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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: ELTON FABIAN <fabianelton66@gmail.com>
Reply-To: eltonfabian@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2013 23:48:43 -0800
Subject: IMPORTANT/URGENT UPDATE
Dear Sir/Madam
I hope that this correspondence is received with the urgency and expediency
required.
It has come to the notice of the Board of Trustees at the CBN that your
Inheritance/Contract claims application being handled by the Remitting Bank
is Experiencing some man made irregularities. To this effect, it has become
necessary for the Board of Trustees to invite trained Fund Transfer
Specialists from the United States to resolve and regularize your fund
release with immediate effect.
We at Corsham Solicitors have been duly consulted by the CBN Board of
Trustees and have been fully informed about how the staffs of the remitting
bank has been taking advantage of you by telling you to pay unnecessarily
exorbitant charges which will only make your fund payment a long drawn out
process.
Due to this we have decided to step into the process of your fund transfer
to enable your funds to be transferred within the soonest possible time .
You are advised to keep this communication highly confidential as the CBN
Board of Trustees have asked us to resolve this fund payment independent of
the office of the CBN Governor to identify the principal participants in
this unethical payment procedure. Furthermore, you are hereby advised to
pay no further fees or charges to the Remitting Bank in Nigeria as they
shall no longer be handling your payment process.
Yours Sincerely,
Fabian Elton
Corsham Solicitors
940-263-1327
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Anti-fraud resources:
