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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: info UNB <pbu@cepet.cl>
Reply-To: informes@ucs.pe
Date: Tue, 15 Aug 2017 00:35:23 -0700
Subject: RN
--
Kindly Attn
Following the presentation of the relevant documents relating to your
payment by the Special Committee on delayed foreign payments attempts
have been made to contact you and this is the 3rd and perhaps the last
email to you in respect of this matter. Be rightly informed that your
funds valued US$ 3.5M intercepted from your former representative has
been approved and presently awaiting for your endorsement and
reconfirmation for crediting into your account as you may specify. For
more information contact us immediately.
Be kindly informed of this development.
Regards
Mr. Tyler Harrison
Accounting Department
United National Bank (UNB)
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Anti-fraud resources:
