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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Turai Yar'adua <tyaradua4@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: tyaradua4@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 10:06:49 -0400
Subject: Investment Partnership.
Hello Dear!
I am Hajia Turai Yar?Adua, wife of Umar Yar'Adua Late Nigeria
President who died
on Wednesday 5th of March 2010 after long illness described as "acute
pericarditis.
I seek your indulgence to partnership with me in an investment worth 35million
which would be of mutual benefit for my family and yours, due to the
confidential nature of this investment I need a total foreigner a non Nigerian
to handle and stand as beneficiary to this fund safely lodged in a financial
institution with secret codes.
For your assistance and partnership I would be willing to offer 25%
of the lot,
if you?re willing to assist and partner with me urgently responds via email
stating your full name and direct confidential telephone number for verbal
discussion.
Bearing in mind of my statue and family name this transaction should
be handled
with utmost secrecy, for more details of the death of my late husband and my
family you can access this link below:
http://allafrica.com/stories/201002250872.html
Sincerely,
Hajia Turai Yar?Adua
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Anti-fraud resources:
