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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:
- "transferred into your bank account" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "transfer into your account" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "FBI OFFICE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <deptffbi1@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 17 Aug 2014 10:11:19 -0700
Subject: FUND RELEASED DOCUMENTS IS NEEDED
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)
Director for Investigative Division
Washington, D.C.
FBI National Press Office (202) 324-3001
There is Pending Transfer worth US10.5M in your name is waiting for certification before it be transferred into your bank account. bear in mind that this US10.5million can not be transfer into your account if we did not certified the legitimacy of fund with proof of Fund Identification Record Certificate of the fund you are about to receive from Federal Reserve Bank ,so base on this we FBI request for Fund Identification Record Certificate of the FUND should in case you not have Fund Identification Record Certificate documents in your possesion, contact us back to direct you where to obtain it because is only documents you need to received the payment of US10.5M from Federal Reserve Bank to your personally bank account.
Thanks
Jim Comey
FBI Director
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Anti-fraud resources:
