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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:
- "gambofrank1@live.co.za" (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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Engr Frank Gambo." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gambofrank1@live.co.za>
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2013 01:19:12 +0100
Subject: Hello.
Hello,
RE: Crude Oil Sales Partnership.
This letter is based on negotiating a partnership in a crude oil sales project with the National Petroleum Agency, (ANP-STP). This project will involve registering your name with the foreign contractor's unit of the National Petroleum Agency; re-assign an already existing crude oil lifting/sales license to your name and act as representatives of the National Petroleum Agency in selling of crude oil to the end buyers.
This lifting license which I propose that we re-assign to your name (my partner) was formerly allocated to one Mr. David Russell by the ANP-STP in 2005 with 5 years validity. The license is for the sale of 60 Million Barrels of Sao Tome Light Crude Oil [SLCO] for a total period of 5 years. This allows the license owner to lift and sale a maximum of 1 Million barrels of SLCO per transaction/shipment.
A sale of 1 barrel of SLCO attracts a US$2.00 commissions from the National Petroleum Agency and another US$1.00 discount as commission from the end buyers of the SLCO. For a sale of 1 barrel of SLCO, the license owner earns a total commission of U$3.00. Let's say the prize of the SLCO is $112.00 per barrel. A lifting license holder will receive the product from the ANP-STP at $110.00 per barrel and sell to the end buyers on the normal market prize of $112.00 per barrel thereby making a commission of $2.00 on each barrel of crude sold. Also being able to locate the final buyers entitles your company to a US$1.00 discount from the discount given to the end buyer as "mandates".
A total sale of the 1 million barrels of the crude oil per month at a US$2.00 discount from local petroleum agency sums up to US$2 million commission per month. And another US$1.00 discount from the end buyer comes to US$1 million per month thereby making a total commission of US$3 million monthly.
My obligation in this venture is to arrange for the lifting and sale of the crude oil that will be allocated to you (my partner) after the successful re-assignment of Mr. David Russell's lifting license to your name (my partner). I have numerous buyers for this crude oil and also have the connections needed to sale the crude oil. I will also use my connections in the National Petroleum Agency to make sure that our commissions from the sale are deposited into your bank account immediately after the sale is completed. Both the cost to re-assign this lifting license to your name (my partner) and the commissions from the sales will be shared equally between us as equity partners.
I await your immediate response through this email address: gambofrank1@live.co.za
Your proposed partner,
Thanks,
Engr Frank Gambo.
Telephone: +27834729226
Fax: +27-86-602-3788
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