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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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. )
- "money gram" (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 free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- markjosephcarney@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- that pass through www.bankofengland.co.uk markjosephcarney@gmail.com markjosephcarney@yahoo.co.uk (Gmail, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- markjosephcarney@yahoo.co.uk (Yahoo, United Kingdom; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: G20's Board <accountcarney@live.com>
Date: Sun, 15 Dec 2013 02:22:34 +0000
Subject: Re: Receive Your Funds Now !!!
Dear Sir,
Your funds are in Bank of England right now. Stop begging the dishonest bank officials in Africa to release your funds. They are crooks. We got the information. You did some transactions in Africa some time ago. You have not received the funds up till now and you have been sending to them your hard earned money by Western Union and Money Gram. Stop to contact them and also stop to send to them your money. They were deceiving you. They were extorting your money for no good reason. Your funds are right now in Bank of England. Bank of England is Central Bank of United Kingdom (UK).
All of the bank officials in Africa are not to be trusted! They diverted your funds illegally to a bank/account here in UK which its beneficiary is an African businessman who resides in UK. Bank of England detected it and hijacked the funds. We made investigations and observed you are the rightful beneficiary of the funds. We asked them questions. They said you died many years ago and they have not discovered your relations to claim the funds, so they decided to keep the funds in foreign account for safe keeping. All lies and forged stories.
Board of Directors of Bank of England ordered me to return to the bank in Africa the funds. But I personally do not want the funds to be returned to Africa again. I want to move the funds to your bank account directly. The funds shall not reach your hands anymore if the funds are returned to Africa. All of the bank officials in Africa are experienced crooks. They will look for another way to divert the fund somewhere else again if the funds are returned to Africa. And they will share the funds without your knowledge. This is my main reason of deciding to move to your bank account the funds directly instead of returning to Africa the funds.
I informed the Board of Directors that the funds have been returned to the bank in Africa that it emanated from. This is false information. I lied. The funds are still in Suspense Account of Bank of England. Send to me any bank account of your choice where you want the funds to be transferred to. I will carry out the funds transfer without delay and the funds will enter your bank account within 48/72 hours. Act fast! Bank of England is planning to do Audit. I want the funds to reach your bank account before starting of the Audit. It is important. Otherwise the Auditors will detect the funds during Auditing and the funds shall be confiscated.
You see, I use unofficial e-mail account to write to you. I do not want to use my official e-mail account to write to you. I created this e-mail account to use it to write to you because I do not want the Board of Directors to realize I am communicating to you and have planned to move to your bank account the funds. This is why I do not want to use my official e-mail account to write to you because webmasters of Bank of England are monitoring all communications that pass through www.bankofengland.co.uk
markjosephcarney@gmail.com
markjosephcarney@yahoo.co.uk
markjosephcarney@hotmail.co.uk
These three e-mail accounts are highly protected. I want you to respond to me only through these three e-mail accounts.
TO: markjosephcarney@gmail.com
CC: markjosephcarney@yahoo.co.uk
CC: markjosephcarney@hotmail.co.uk
Yours faithfully,
Mark Joseph Carney
Governor of Bank of England
Chairman of G20's Financial Stability Board
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Anti-fraud resources:
