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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: Kouakou Cecillia Aya <hr@mail.yamoffice.yam.com>
Reply-To: <kouakoucecillia@mail.mn>
Date: Sat, 22 Oct 2011 03:21:46 +0000
Subject: FLIGHT CAPITAL AND INVESTMENT PROPOSAL.
Good day,
I have the sum of US$10Million to invest in your country. I am not like every other people who send emails over the internet. I am a
retired civil servant and this money belongs to me and my friends who worked together in the Ministry of Agriculture. Investing this
money in African will yeild no result due to inconsistent power supply, insecurity and change of government policy which change with
the change in government. My country has not been in peace since 19th September 2002 even after the recent election of November 28,
2010 and we guarantee the this money will get into your bank account securely as this is a 100% risk free transaction.
Please if you deem it fit that you can handle this amount of money for investment, please reply and if you are not capable, do not
bother to reply. We have also agreed to give you 25% of the total amount for your assistance and effort.
Thanks.
Sincerely.
Mrs. Kouakou Cecillia Aya.
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Anti-fraud resources:
