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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:
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: Ambassador Diao Mingsheng <ubaplc39@gmail.com>
Reply-To: diaomingsheng658@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 21 Sep 2021 10:40:57 +0100
Subject: Am Waiting to hear from you
--
For Your Kind Attention
I am Mr. Diao Mingsheng Ambassador of China to Benin
Republic,I was searching for some packages that was left unclaimed by some
China Citizens and found out that Your Parckage is among the unclaimed
parckages with the DHL Deliver company, and I asked DR. BRYON DOUGLAS
DOUGLAS the
Director of DHL Benin Republic what happened that you have not receive
your package and he said that you refused to pay the $205.00 keeping fee.
I'm contacting you now because DR. BRYON DOUGLAS the
Director of DHL Benin Republic said they will divert
your Package to the Government Treasury just because you can not
pay for their keeping fee of your package which is $205.00 .00 only.
But I told them to wait until I hear from you today so that I will
know the reason why you rejected your $5.8M USD which will change your
life just because of $205.00
I want your urgent response as soon as you receive this email and
explain to me the reason why you have abandoned your package because
of $205.00. But if you don't need your funds then I can change your name to
another persons names so that this Government will not claim this money but I
know that you will love to have your fund.
Please my dear I want to help you to receive this fund because it was
a big shock to me that you have not received your package for years
now and I’m very sorry for that and i am asuring you that you will
receive your package
before the end of ECOWAS meeting which will take us 4days and I will be
here to monitor it until you receive your package.
I will be waiting to hear from you to know your mind about this issue.
Regards
Diao Mingsheng
Ambassador of China to Benin
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