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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. )
- "money gram" (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. )
- "mtcn" (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. )
- "money transfer control number" (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. )
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned 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.
- mrjoshuahampson@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Joshua Hampson <unccfile2017@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrjoshuahampson@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2021 19:25:13 +0100
Subject: your ATM card
DHL International (Nigeria) Ltd.
Isolo Expressway
New Airport Rd Junction
Isolo Lagos
Dear Customer
This serves as urgent notice:
Your Waybill tracking number will be forwarded to you once we dispatch
your ATM card parcel for your monitoring purposes.
The management of DHL Courier Company wishes to inform you that your
ATM card valued US$45.5M has been submitted to our custody for onward
delivery to your destination.
We shall deliver your ATM Card once you send the delivery fees and you
shall be given a tracking number, that is, the Track and Trace number
of your parcel once it is posted to your destination address, so as to
enable you track your parcel to know exactly when it will arrive to
your destination address. Meanwhile the delivery fees is only $380.00, so
send the fee to the below address as quickly as possible to enable us dispatch
your ATM card parcel today and update you with the tracking numbers.
So the management of this company is hereby advised you to fine below
details and send the delivery fee of $380.00 USD via Western Union or
money
gram to speed up the delivery process today.
Below is the detail where to send the 380 dollars Via Western Union
Transfer ASAP.
Receiver's name/
Destination/ Lagos Nigeria
Address/New Airport Rd Junction Isolo Lagos
Question/ Urgent
Answer/ Needed
Amount/ $380.00
After sending the fee, Kindly send us the money transfer control
number MTCN as well as the sender’s name and address.
We are definitely expecting your urgent respond to enhance the
immediate delivery of your ATM card
pls you can contact me with this Email address (mrjoshuahampson@gmail.com)
Regards
DHL Team
Mr Joshua Hampson
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Anti-fraud resources:
