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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- "courier service" (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 fake lottery scam. Consider the following facts about real lotteries:
- They don't notify winners by email.
- You can't win without first buying a lottery ticket.
- They don't randomly select email addresses to award prizes to.
- They don't use free email accounts (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc) to communicate with you.
- They don't tell you to call a mobile phone number.
- They don't tell you to keep your winnings secret.
- They will never ask a winner to pay any fees to receive a prize!
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- derekcottier5@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Stephanie Myers" <admin@storasend.com>
Reply-To: derekcottier5@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2018 06:18:52 -0800
Subject: From Arcus Foundation Welfare JANUARY 2018
Dear Beneficiary,
I refer to the letter I posted to your address but did not hear from you and decided to email you once again to inform you that, we happily announce to you the draw of the Arcus Foundation Welfare Support Scheme. Is an Online sweepstakes International program held on the Month of JANUARY, 2018. Your online email account has been picked as a one of the lucky winner of $850,000.00 ( Eight Hundred and Fifty Thousand United State Dollar) by Arcus Foundation Welfare. Your fund we be loaded into an ATM Visa Debit Card and deliver to you through express Courier service.
NOTE: You are to contact our zonal payment coordinator immediately on his email: ( derekcottier5@gmail.com ) Rev. Derek Cottier, with your details for delivery of your ATM Visa Card to you through express courier services.
Your Ref: Code is AFWSS-DMP-3999-VOL10X-16.
Best Regards,
Mrs. Stephanie Myers
Payments Committee - European Commission
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Anti-fraud resources:
