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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:
- "million pounds" (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: "Admin Staff" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <adsallaw@rediffmail.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 16:50:19 -0000
Subject: Unclaimed Estate
ESTATE NOTIFICATION!
I am writing from the Treasury Department of the Bona Vacantia Division (BVD), our agency has the mandate to recover unpaid inheritance and our duty is to ensure that the beneficiaries receive their funds as approved.
We discovered that the total sum of Ten Million Pounds was approve in your favor and the said fund is yet to be communicated/paid out to you as the beneficiary hence this estate has remain unclaimed since its approval.
My agency has completed arrangement to have this fund paid out to you by a special cash delivery at any of our nearest paying offices in your region or by a direct wire transfer to your account.
To ensure that the fund is paid out to you as approved and attached to your email address, you are required to get back to us ASAP for the payment modalities.
Sincerely,
Admin Staff
Dept of Treasury.Belfast,UK. 27/11
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Anti-fraud resources:
