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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:
- "monrovia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Favour Mutah" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <richogno1@cantv.net>
Date: Fri, 7 Aug 2009 20:04:53 -0000
Subject: From Mr Favour Mutah
>From Mr Favour Mutah
Abidjan Republic of Cote D'Ivoire.West Africa
Dear,
i know that this letter may be a very big surprise to you, I am giving you my trust and wish you will give me back the trust i have giving you.
My Name is From Mr Favour Mutah the only Son of Mr and Mrs Mutah Ubah i am 20 year old My father was a very wealthy Gold Merchant in Monrovia the Gold Capital of republic of Liberia all in west africa.
Before the death of my father on 14th September 2008 my father told me that he deposited sum (USD $15 MILLION FIFTEEN MILLION U.S DOLLARS ) in a bank here in Cote D'ivoire i want you to help me to transfer the money to your account.
I will compensate you with 20% of this money if you help me to transfer the money to your account, i want you to help me transfer the money before this people who killed my father will kill me too
I am waiting to hear from you.
>From Mr Favour Mutah
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Anti-fraud resources:
