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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:
- "economic and financial crimes commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL CRIMES COMMISSION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <efcc.nigeria@bol.com.br>
Date: Tue, 28 Aug 2012 10:11:48 -0400
Subject: UNPAID COMPENSATION/INHERITANCE FUND SUM.
Attention:
My name is Mr Ibrahim Abdullahi Lamorde the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission(EFCC) new executive officer in Nigeria. I was until my appointment the director of operations of the EFCC. I understand you were expecting your fund sum to be wired to your bank account for so long but your expectation was not met.
I am contacting you to let you know the truth because i know how far you have gone in your communication with fraudsters(despite our warnings) who frequently impersonate the identity of real government and bank officials to help make themselves and their scam appear legitimate.
I will be ready to help in delivering your fund sum to you with your honest and sincere co-operation with my office. Your immediate response will duly be attended to as soon as i am in receipt of your response.
Sincerely,
Mr Ibrahim Lamorde,
Chairman,
EFCC.
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Anti-fraud resources:
