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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states 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)
- "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: Mrs Rose Houry <roo3houry@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: rosehoury@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 18:55:54 +0900 (JST)
Subject: contact Mrs Rose
From Mrs Rose Houry
Abidjan ivory coast
Attn.
My name is Mrs.Rose Houry . I am a widow and a mother with a son. I know you will see my letter to you as anembarrassment considering the fact that we do not know ourselves. I plead with you to be patient with me and give me audience because I found myself in a situation that I dont have any
option than to contact you,so that you can help me in this problem I found myself into, so I feel very pleased to contact you for your assistance and business relationship.
We from sierria Leone My Dear husband Mr Johnson Houry was killed by the gunmen due to his political ambitions and his total fight on the crimes on Humanity the have also order for the confiscation all his public assets including his bank accounts which he has in our country , since his
death life has become miserable to my farmily, but we are lucky to have an information痴 of his company fixed deposite account of $18.3 million united states dollars outside our country which i and my son jacob has the all the informations covering the deposit . i am now soliciting for your
help to provide a bank account where this fund can be transfer to and invested into a profited venture ,such as
1 Real-Estate
2 Hotel business
3 Gas station
over there in your country since we have decided to go back to our country for any Reason again . you will also help us to have resident permitte to be in your country for our operation with you without any problem. we have decided to compensate you with part of this fund for any of your effort
in getting things done for us, which will be discuses after you declare your interest in helping us . you will also save as the director of our establishment which will be done with part of this fund in your country. we are now staying as a refuge in a local hotel here in abidjan ivory coast i
will like you to get back to us urgently so that we will give you more details about this transaction if you are honest and carpable in handling the transfer.
we are hoping to hear from your urgently
thanks and god bless.
Mrs Rose Houry
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