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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:
- "cotonou" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "richsmith20171@outlook.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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. RICHARD SMITH jnr" <"info."@ace.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "MR. RICHARD SMITH jnr" <richsmith20171@outlook.com>
Date: Sat, 15 Jul 2017 18:53:54 +0900 (JST)
Subject: You are welcome to Express Delivery Company
FedEx Express Delivery Company Head Office Cotonou Benin Republic
You are welcome to Express Delivery Company
Finance Department Director
Attention.
am written to inform you that your Fund valued of (US$15 million) was converted to ATM Card and it was deposited here in our office and need to deliver to your designation address, So Please contact me with your full information! NOTE: If you received this message in your SPAM/BULK folder that is because of the restrictions implemented by your Internet Service Provider we the (FEDEX DELIVERY COMPANY) urge you to treat it genuinely.
This is the second notice we are sending to you in regards to your visa debit card left here in our office, we notified you about this few weeks ago but we haven’t heard from you up till this moment. Many other packages, which we are supposed to deliver together with yours, had already been delivered to their various owners and yet yours is still here in our company.
We are very grateful to be at your service. You have a visa debit card in our office which was sent to you by {FEDERAL MINISTERIAL OF FINANCE BENIN REPUBLIC} you are required to summit the following personal details listed below to our office via e-mail so that your ATM CARD will be delivered to you at your door step within 48hours without any delay or stoppage from anybody.
Your Full Name...................
Your Mobile Phone Number............
Your Current Home Address...........
Your Country..............
Your City..................
Your Nearest Airport..............
The delivery Diplomat to avoid wrong delivery process.
Thanks for your kind understanding, hope to hear from your soon, God bless.
FedEx Senior Delivery Company Officer Official
Telephone Number: +229 99532973
Email::( richsmith20171@outlook.com )
Best Regards
MR. RICHARD SMITH jr
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