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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "please indicate your willingness" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge amount of money" (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)
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- martina_kaba@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: martina_kaba@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2008 06:18:35 +0800 (CST)
Subject: Hello From Martina.
Email is here¡ martina_kaba@hotmail.com
Hello dear,
I am Mis Martina Kaba. I write to contact you for a business venture which I want to establish with you in your country. There¡¯s this huge amount of money Six Million dollars ($6,000,000) my late father deposit in a bank in my country before his death.
I have decided to invest the money in your country; please I needed your assistance if you¡¯re really willing to help. I am ready to offer you 15% of the total sum for your assistance after a successful transfer. Please indicate your willingness to help me out, I will give you more details of the transaction as you contact me.
Thanks
Mis Martina Kaba.
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Anti-fraud resources: