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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 beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- lee.davidlee@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "David Lee" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dr.david_lee@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 18:46:22 +0330
Subject: Notification Your Funds Is Ready For Transfer!
Dear Beneficiary,
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 present
inheritance claims application being handled by the Remmitting Bank in Nigeria
is experiencing some man made irregularities.To this effect,it has become
neccesary for the Board of Trustees to invite trained Fund Transfer Specalists
from the United States to resolve and regularize your fund release with
immediate effect.
We at David Lee & Associates have been duly consulted by the CBN Board of
Trustees and have been fully informed about how the staff of the remmitting bank
have been taking advantage of you by telling you to pay unneccesarily
exhorbitant 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 transfered within the soonest possible time you are to
get back to us immediatly without needing to pay all the huge sums of monies
that are being demanded from you by the remmitting bank.
All proccesses to have your funds paid to you imediately through the CBN's
Laison Remmittance Office in New York have been initiated to cut out unneccesary
costs.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 Gorvernor to identify the principal participants in this
unethical payment procedure.
Furthermore,you are hereby advised to pay no furtherfees or charges to the
Remmitting Bank in Nigeria as they shall no longer be handling your payment
process.
We shall await your immedite correspondence with your direct telephone numbers
for re-confirmation to to my confidential email address at(lee.davidlee@aol.com)so
that we may conclude your payment immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
Dr.David Lee
David Lee & Associates c/o CBN
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Anti-fraud resources:
