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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "UNITED BANK" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <www.info.vbc@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 16:18:16 +0100
Subject: tes
We the management of UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA wishes to congratulate and inform you that your inheritance/contract funds of $7.5Million USD has been approved and released today by the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.To this effect,we came to a conclusion that we have to pay the sum of $7.5Million USD to you as contract payment by ATM Card.Should you adhere to our directives,your payment will be made within 24 hours.
However,you are required to reconfirm your informations for verification and immediate payment.
1. Full names
2 Address
3 Direct telephone number.
We shall proceed with your payment as soon as the above informations are received.
Mr. Victor Ibe.
New Head, Regional Officer UBA.
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Anti-fraud resources:
