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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:
- "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: johnbosco kamara <johnbosco.kamara8@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: johnbosco_kamara20@live.fr
Date: Sat, 29 May 2010 05:59:23 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: From Johnbosco Kamara
From Johnbosco Kamara
Dear Sir,
l am Johnbosco Kamara, the only child of late Chief Pascal Kamara , 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 (ten million five hundred) USD dollars in a suspense account in a bank in Abidjan and told me to seek for a foreign partner that will provide account overseas where the funds will be transferred to for Investment.
Please I am asking you to assist me so that this funds can be transferred to your account for Investment.Every documents about the funds is legal.
God bless you.
Johnbosco Kamara.
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Anti-fraud resources:
