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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
- 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.
- rolandkamara2010@yahoo.fr (Yahoo, France; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: ROLAND KAMARA <roland.kamara@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: rolandkarama2010@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 12:57:02 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Dear Friend,
Dear Friend,
l am introducing myself,l am Roland Kamara, the only son of late Chief Kamara Philipes , I wish to request for your assistance in a financial transaction and I want to invest in Manufacturing and real estate management in your country.
I am from Liberia my late father was an international businessman and a cocoa marchant my father was killed by rebels on September 19 2009 and as his only child they are also seeking to kill me too.
Before the death of my Father he deposited 12.5 million USD dollars in a suspense account in a bank in Abidjan and told me to seek for a forigen partner that will provide account overseas where the funds will be transfered to for Investment.
Please I am asking you to assist me so that this funds can be transfered to your account for Investment.Every documents about the funds is legal.
Consider this and get back to me through my email rolandkamara2010@yahoo.fr address for more discussion of the transfer.
God bless you.
Roland Kamara
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Anti-fraud resources:
