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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "UNCC ORG" <info@shabesh.net>
Reply-To: uncc@list.ru
Date: Sun, 11 Nov 2018 18:10:12 +0100
Subject: Urgent Notification
Dear Sir/Madam,
This email serves as an official notice that you have been approved to a financial claim of Eight Hundred Thousand United States Dollars (USD 800,000.00)from the Financial Intelligent Unit. We regret the inconveniences you may have experienced following the holdup in the remittance of your financial entitlement for so long. Your email address was forwarded to us to contact you.
Beneficiary Full Name(s):
Contact Address:
Mobile Telephone number(s):
Home Telephone number(s):
Scan Legal Identification of Beneficiary:
Alternative Email(s):
Yours Sincerely,
Colin Clarke
Payment Coordinator
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Anti-fraud resources:
