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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Patience Vincent <patvin1960@cantv.net>
Reply-To: patience.vincent@ymail.com
Date: Tue, 2 Jul 2013 10:08:21 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Dearly beloved,
Dearly beloved,
With due respect I beg you to help me and my little son out of the problem before us at the moment. As I am writing you this mail I and my son are in Ivory Coast being my husband's mother's home. About a year ago Ivory Coast was in the same crisis but it is a bit calm now but not totally peaceful.
My husband was killed on his way to his office on the 02/01/2013 by the rebels in Bamako Mali but before his untimely death he instructed that I should escape with our only male child to Ivory Coast where he deposited a certain amount that he can not abandon his office to escape as one of the top government officials in Mali. He however instructed that I should look for a reliable person out side Ivory Coast and Mali who will assist me to claim his money worth($15m USD) which he deposited in one of the banks here in Abidjan as fix in case we do not meet again in life but unfortunately what he feared got to him, may the gentle soul of my beloved husband rest in perfect peace,Please reply fast for more details on how you will represent as my foreign partner and beneficiary to my late husband's account and in the end I will give you 10% of the total amount as compensation for your kindness and honesty.This is my main reason of contacting you now so I will
explain better when I get your reply to help us out.
I have with me all the original documents the bank issued to my husband the day he deposited the fund with them and I hope to hear from you as soon as possible.
Thanks,
Mrs Patience Vincent.
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