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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "hundred thousand united state dollars" (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)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- 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.
- frances_carterng@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- the paying office. get back to me on email address: frances_carterng@yahoo.com or contact mrs benson on email address: (Yahoo; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: OFFICE OF THE FUND MANAGEMENT BUREAU<fmb@gmail.com>
Reply-To: frances_carterng@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2015 01:25:57 +0100
Subject: UNCLAIMED FUND NOTIFICATION
UNCLAIMED FUND NOTIFICATION
OFFICE OF THE FUND MANAGEMENT BUREAU (FMB)
1A Broughton Street
Battersea London
SW8 3QJ London UK
UNCLAIMED FUND NOTIFICATION
I am Mr Frances Carter of the newly inaugurated Fund Management Bureau
(FMB) by the United Nation and International Monetary Fund (IMF). My
agency has the mandate to recover unpaid debts associated with NNPC
contracts, Lottery fund, inheritance fund, loans and grants etc and to
ensure that the approved beneficiaries receive the fund as approved in
their favours.
In the course of our assignment, we discovered that the total sum of Ten
Million Five Hundred Thousand United State Dollars ($10.5M) approved in
your favor with Ref Number: UK/9420X2/68 and Batch Number: 074/05/ZY369 by the UN/IMF is still unclaimed.
With our mandate and the resolution reached, my agency have completed
arrangement to have this fund paid to you by ATM card and delivered to you at your specified address or by diplomatic cash delivery/cash payment at our nearest paying office in your region or by any means suitable to you.
To ensure that the fund is paid to you as approved and attached to your
winning information, you are required to reconfirm your particulars to
ensure accuracy in the fund release. Make sure that you include your cell phone# for the attention of the paying office.
Get back to me on email address: frances_carterng@yahoo.com or contact Mrs Benson on email address: triciabensonsn@rediffmail.com for processing and payment of the total $10.5M to you as approved
Yours Sincerely
Mr Frances Carter
Coordinator (FMB)
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Anti-fraud resources:
