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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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Daniel Kabongo <danielkabongo02@gmail.com>
Reply-To: kabongo.daniel@ymail.com
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 19:15:10 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: RE Get Back To Me ASAP
Dear Friend
I am Mr. Daniel Kabongo I'm seeking your consent to present you as the next of kin to a deceased customer of our bank who died years back without any established heirs so that the bank will not confiscate his deposit of (US$9.2M) and return it to the Government of Benin.
Also note that the deceased deposit has an open beneficiary and any foreigner can put claim over the fund irrespective of your tribe, names and religion provided you have the secret information on the security file jacket of the deceased deposit which I will furnish to You upon demand by authorities of my bank.
I am only contacting you as a foreigner because these funds cannot be approved to a local Bank here but can only be approved to any foreign bank account because the money is in US Dollar account and the former owner of the account is a foreigner too. My aim is to source a honest and trustworthy individual to whom I can entrust these funds and who will act as trustee pending my arrival in your country since my period of disengagement from service is near.
More details will be given to you as soon as you reply.
Regards
Daniel Kabongo
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Anti-fraud resources:
