419 scam: Mr Dan Egozo <officials@comic.com> (no subject)

joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet

Try our spam filter!
Free trial for 30 days

Home

About Us

Spam

419/Nigeria

Fraud

Contact

"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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "with absolute secrecy" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
This email message is a next of kin 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.
- danego1977@post.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)

Fraud email example:

From: Mr Dan Egozo <officials@comic.com>
Reply-To: danego1977@post.com
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:32:35 +0000 (GMT)
Subject:

Dear friend,
I apologise if the contents hereunder are contrary to your moral ethics, but
please treat it with absolute secrecy and personal courtesy. I am Mr Dan Egozo
an Auditor with a bank here in Burkina faso, West Africa. In the process of auditing
our bank accounts for the first quarter of the year, I recently discovered that
there was a dormant account valued (US$11.5 million dollars).
After due verification of this account I discovered that the account owner is
late/dead. The deceased client is Mr Kurt Kahle from Germany
In view of this, I am seeking for your co-operation and understanding to stand
as the next of kin to our deceased customer, to enable us claim the fund from my
bank. I agreed that 40% of this fund will be for you as a respect to the provision of
a foriegn account while 60% will be for me and I want to assure you that this
transaction is absolutely legal and risk free. Before we proceed, i would like to know
your ability to handle this transaction over there in your country. Please tell me more
about the political stability/economic stability of your country.

Kindly update me with the following information because i would like to know you very
well before we proceed on this transaction. Hope you understand???
1. YOUR FULL NAME?.........
2. YOUR AGE?.....
3. SEX?..........
4. YOUR OCCUPATION? ...............
5. YOUR ADDRESS?.............
6. YOUR COUNTRY?.............
7. NATIONALITY?.........
8. YOUR DIRECT PHONE NUMBER?................

Hence, if this proposal is OK by you and you do not wish to take undue
advantage of my trust.
More details of this transaction will be given to you as soon as i received the requested
information from you.
Contact me to my private E-mail: danego1977@post.com
I await for your prompt response.

Best Regards,
Dr Dan Egozo NB: PLEASE NOTE THAT IT DOES NOT MATTER IF YOU ARE NOT RELATED TO MY
LATE CLIENT OR NOT; THE FUND WILL STILL BE PAID TO YOU, SINCE I AM
PRESENTING YOU AS HIS NEXT OF KIN.

Anti-fraud resources:

What can you do when you receive 419 spam