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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:
- "activation fee" (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. )
- "dear beneficiary," (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Hart Leroy <info@udcsms.com>
Reply-To: <hartlleroy@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 28 Nov 2019 17:29:34 -0300
Subject: IMF Urgent Attention
Dear Beneficiary,
My name is Hart Leroy and I work with the International Monetary
Fund (IMF), I am writing you to let you know that finally your
ATM Card worth $1,650,000.00 USD has been delivered throughFedEx
to Mr. Jianhai Lin who works with the IMF where it is going to be
activated before final delivery to your home address.
You can use the tracking number with the tracking site below to
track the ATM Card to be sure it has been delivered to Mr.
Jianhai Lin, for activation.
FedEx Tracking number: 483666934250
FedEx Tracking site: https://www.fedex.com/en-us/home.html
Below is the contact information to Mr. Jianhai Lin
Name: MR. Jianhai Lin
E-mail: jiianhaiLin@aliyun.com
You are to contact Mr.Jianhai Lin with his email address above
then he will guide you on how your Card will be activated and
delivered to your home address.
Please Fill Our The Following Information.
Full name:
Occupation:
Home address:
Tel:
Country:
Note: The only fee you are to send for the activation fee is just
$250 USD so make sure you don't send him more than $250 USD. Your
card is already with him and you can track it with the tracking
details given to you above for confirmation.
Congratulations once more.
Best Regards,
International Monetary Fund (IMF)
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Anti-fraud resources:
