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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:
- "clearance certificate" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "clearance certificate" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Charlen Maier Consultiing" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <charmai@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 9 Nov 2017 23:31:51 -0800
Subject: Your Payment Released
We want to let you know that records available to us states that some four to five years ago, some people wrote you that they wanted to transfer some money into your account running into millions of U.S dollars. They used your name and address to secure all the approvals from the appropriate govt. agencies. When they asked you to pay some approval fees, you stopped communicating with them thinking it is a scam. It is not.
That money has now been approved for payment by the govt. who want to pay you directly only $500,000 out of the millions since those people have stopped coming to claim it on your behalf.
Re-confirm your name and address and we will immediately go to the Ministry Of Finance and secure your Clearance Certificate for the payment of the US$500,000 to you. Once it is signed, we take it along with your other documents to the bank and they pay you by wire transfer or cashier check.
Please this is not a scam again. Stop all communications with everybody with regard to this transaction so that you get your $500,000 within one week.
Charlen Maier
CEO
Charlen Maier Consultiing
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Anti-fraud resources:
