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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 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)
- "wendell.minott@yandex.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs Theresa Ivanovic" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <wendell.minott@yandex.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2017 11:47:53 -0000
Subject: RE: INSTRUCTION TO RELEASE YOUR OVERDUE FUND
INSTRUCTION TO RELEASE YOUR OVERDUE FUND
We are contacting you in-respect of your overdue compensation fund totaling the sum of $ 7.5
million Dollars in our vault as authorized by the International Monitory Fund (IMF) headquarters to immediately make a transfer to your safe account .
It was also discovered that you made several attempt in the past to get this fund released to you but all to no avail.
Therefore you are strictly advised to desist from further contact / communication with any other individual or office outside this the bank to avoid any form of delays or complication towards the immediate released of your fund to you in this last quarter of the year .
All you need do is to re-confirm your full details to us immediately for review and onward processing of you fund to your designated bank account
(1) Full Name and Address (2) Age and Occupation (3)Telephone number
Upon the receipt of all this information from you, we shall immediately process your fund transfer to you without further delays as instructed by our apex bank.
Thus provide all this information and forward to this email address (wendell.minott@yandex.com)
Awaiting your swift correspondence.
Mrs. Theresa Ivanovic
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Anti-fraud resources:
