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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (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: "Victor Joe" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <victorjoe2001@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 02:05:22 -0800
Subject: CRUDE OIL SALES/BUYERS AND AGENTS NEEDED
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am a Director in the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). By virtue of my position I can influence the issuance of the Bonny Light Crude Oil Allocation without having to pay for it. We will only pay the cost of the crude oil after we have sold it. Our own gain will be the commission which we will make from the sale of the product.
I am making this contact to you to seek your co-operation so that we can work together as partners to actualize the above goal. I cannot do it directly because issuing the crude oil allocation to myself will mean using my office for personal interest. That will expose me to prosecution as the law here does not permit that.
The allocation that will be issued to you is confirmable at Lloyds of London and also on
Shell Screen. These are the two bodies that confirm crude oil transaction in the world. The confirmation will make every buyer see that the transaction is real and that you have legal right over the allocation. The technicalities involved in securing this shall be communicated to you as soon as your acknowledgement is received bexcause there shall be some local authorities to be bribed so that we can gain our way and this means that we shall jointly be committed to making some financial commitment to the Local chieves so that it can be done effectively without any let or hindrance.
If you are interested in this business please, get back to me so that I can brief you more.
Regards.
VICTOR JOE
NB:
Click on the reply bottom when responding to this email. Note that at the preliminary stage of this transaction, money is involved where we have to give to the Local Authorities before we will be allowed to commence the lifting of the oil as soon as it is approved by the Board of the allocation Committed whom I happens to be the Chairman of the committee.
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