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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 friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "please indicate your willingness" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Dr B Shan <drbarishan@gmail.com>
Reply-To: drbaris85@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2011 14:58:41 +0100 (BST)
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSAL URGENT.
Dear Friend,
I know that this mail will come to you as a surprise as we have never met before, but need not to worry as I am using the only secured and confidential medium available to seek for your foreign assistance in a business. I am contacting you independently of my investigation and no one is informed of this communication.
I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of $25m U.S Dollars (Twenty Five Million U.S Dollars)immediately to your private account. The money has been here in our Bank lying dormant for nine good years now without anybody coming for the claim of it. I want to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer (the account owner) who died a long with his supposed NEXT OF KIN since August 1997.
The Banking ethics here does not allow such money to stay more than 15 years, because the money will be recalled to the Bank treasury as unclaimed fund. Upon receipt of your reply indicating your interest in this transaction, I will send you full details on how the business will be executed.
Please indicate your willingness by sending the below information for more clarification and easy communication.
1) Full name.................................
2) Age.......................................
3) Address...................... ............
4) Occupation................................
5) Mobile Telephone number...................
6) Country...................................
Please keep this proposal as a top secret and delete if you are not interested.
Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Thanks for your interest.
Yours faithfully.
Mr.Bari Shan
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Anti-fraud resources:
