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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:
- "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)
- "rafiqabdulaziz@ymail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Rafiq Abdul Aziz" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rafiqabdulaziz@ymail.com>
Date: Thu, 26 Jan 2012 02:02:29 +0800
Subject: Asalamalieku,
I am Mr. Bin Rafiq Abdul the accounts manager of one of the Daughters in-laws of president Muamman Ghaddafi of Libya, who lost her husband in the NATO air strike. because of the revolution over her father in-law and the frozen of the family accounts in different countries.
Below is the link to view the full story. http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/world/234779/gadhafi-survives- deadly-airstrike
At the moment, i am still looking for a way to get relief of my duty once there is a final ceasefire in Libya. I want you to hold this top secret while helping me to secure the sum of five hundred Million Libya Dina's which is already in Malaysia. I will be obliged to educate you more on this when i receive your reply to this email.
As at the moment the money is deposited through a Malaysian based financial security company (RHB Assurance) which is affiliated to RHB bank in Malaysia while expecting to get the fund out immediately so as to commit it to investment channel.
Reply me via my private email, rafiqabdulaziz@ymail.com
Yours Faithfully
Rafiq Abdul aziz
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Anti-fraud resources:
