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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- chilonnatama@o2.pl (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Chilo Nnatama <chilonnatama800027@msn.com>
Reply-To: chilonnatama@o2.pl
Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2012 03:12:13 +0000
Subject: Dear friend
Dear friend,
I am Mr.Chilo Nnatama, the head of file department of African development bank (A.D.B) here in Burkina Faso Ouagadougou. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum of (US$9.5mllion US Dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his family in plane crash.
It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you and release the money to you as the next of kin or relation to the deceased for the safety and subsequent disbursement since nobody is coming for it. I agree that 40% of this money will be for you, while 60% would be for me. Then after the money is been transferred into your account, I will visit your country for an investment under your kind control.
You have to contact my Bank directly as the real next of kin of this deceased account with next of kin application form. You have to send me those your information below to enable me use it and get you next of kin application form from the bank, so that you will contact Bank for the transfer of this money into your account.Reply me on this email address:
1. Full Name.
2: Your Private telephone and Fax numbers.
3. Occupations.
4. Date Of Birth
5. Country of Residence.
6. Your company's Name and Full address.
Hoping to hear from you as soon as possible.
Thanks.
Mr.Chilo Nnatama
RELY TO chilonnatama@o2.pl
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Anti-fraud resources:
