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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:
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Rebecca Gros <rebeccagross446@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: rebecagross46@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 3 Apr 2013 15:33:52 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Re: My Dearest
Re: My Dearest,
I am Miss Rebecca Gross. I am 20 years old and single from Ivory Coast. I am the only daughter of my parents. My father was a very successful business man before he was poisoned to death. Meanwhile before the painful death of my father here in our country, he secretly called me and told me that he deposited $6,500,000.00 (six million five hundred thousand dollars with my name as the next of kin with a bank here in my country. I will attach my pictures for you to know me more and also copies of my father's documents which he gave to me before he died.
I will want you to assist me receive this money in your account and also invest it into good business of your choice in your country. I contacted you to help me because,I can not handle this transaction and my father told me that i should not involve my uncles in this transaction or let them know about the money in the bank because he did not trust them. My father also instructed me to seek for a partner in your country who will help me receive the money from the bank and invest it on my behalf. I don't have any business idea and this is my first of going into this kind of transaction. You are going to take 20% of the total money as your compensation when the bank will transfer it to your account. The remaining 80% will be invested by you into good and profitable business of your choice in your country.
I will like to spend the rest of my life in your country since i don't have any father or mother or trusted relatives.
I have informed the bank director where my late father deposited this money about my plans to transfer the money to my foreign partner, the bank director was happy about my plans to transfer the money outside the country where it will be invested into good business as my father instructed.
Please reply me as soon as you read this email so that i can tell you what the bank requires of you to make the transfer to your account. I will also give you the contact of the bank so that You can forward this email to the bank and let the bank director know you are my foreign partner who is going to help me invest the money in your country.
Please try to send me your photos or ID card and direct mobile telephone number where i can call you. I will be waiting your reply after reading my mail.
Thanks
Rebecca.
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