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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs.Lovel Rose" <lovel_rose@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: "Mrs.Lovel Rose" <dhlexpress_office01@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 25 Nov 2014 00:13:29 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: This is the registration Number of your Package
Fed/122p/mtm/2007Zip Code;0113388
 Attn My Dear Friend ,
This is to inform you that your long awaiting fund worth $4.8 Million USD has been approved to be delivered to you in Good faith. We are very sorry for our late response, we have been working very hard to come up with proper moralities of making the delivery to you through DHL Express Company and we have come to a final conclusion from our last meeting that you are going to receive your FUND through ATM MASTER CARD.
This is the registration Number of your Package Fed/122p/mtm/2007Zip Code;0113388 so do not let the company to know the real contents of the package so that they can deliver it to you safely.
Reconfirm your current information to DHL Courier Company for immediateprocedure. Such as below
YOUR NAME_______________YOUR HOME ADDRESS_______YOUR ID COPY____________YOUR CITY___________YOUR AGE/SEX_____________DIRECT PHONE NUMBER____YOUR OCCUPATION______
All these information is needed from you now to submit to the company for urgent delivery of your package contains $4.8 Million USD, Please contact the delivery company immediately and reconfirm your info to them to enable the agent locate you when he arrived in your country.This is the DHL Express company contact info. Email: dhlexpress_office01@yahoo.co.ukTel:+229 993-17-105Rev Dr. Patrick Williams. Director General
DHL Express Delivery Company Cotonou  Republic du Benin.Please contact the DHL Express company immediately you receive this email so that your package will leave tomorrow to be deliver to you.
Once Again Thanks and Remain BlessMrs. Lovel RoseMinister of FinanceREPUBLIC du BENIN.
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