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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "western union" (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. )
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Western Union money transfer is completely untraceable and therefore is *not* safe to use with anyone you do not know personally. It is the preferred method of online criminals to collect money from their victims.
- 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.
- row4733@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: row4733@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 25 Dec 2018 17:13:35 -0800
Subject: Merry Christmas to you,your kind attention !!!
your kind attention !!!
I am writing this Email to officially inform you that issues has been finally resolved regarding your long overdue payment and the United bank for Africa has been contracted by the United nations /Compensation Award Committee/International Monetary Fund {IMF} to ensure that you receive your payment without any further delay.
This is to urgently notify you about your compensation,in a meeting held yesterday the 23th of December in ECOWAS HEAD OFFICE Republic of Benin,the board of ECOWAS and African union have agreed to compensate all the reported scam victims through instructions from United Nation .
Your name/ activities on western union data was among the elected victim to be compensated and we hereby advised you to stop every further communication with any office from now and forward all your reports/full contact details to Mr.Gabriel John for payment directives .(row4733@gmail.com )
Have a nice day and keep us posted in every steps .
NB: You will not be required to pay any money apart from your MASTERCARD insurance and shipment charges
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Anti-fraud resources:
