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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:
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Daniel Ude" <tarquinio.sabbioni@alice.it>
Reply-To: atm60card@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:39:38 +0100 (CET)
Subject: ATTENTION
ATTENTION
Your ATM Card of $2.7 million USD has been approved and was deposited with
FedEx Express Courier Company this morning for registration,and we agreed up
that the delivery of Your $2.7Million USD ATM Package will take off tomorrow
morning .So contact with your full info where your ATM card will be delivered
to, Urgently get back to us today with your phone number and full address where
your ATM card will be delivered to because i will not be in the office next
week: The amount in your Card is US$2.7 Million and your Pin code is: (9106).
Regards,
Mr. Daniel Ude
>From Central Bank Of BENIN REPUBIC
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Anti-fraud resources:
