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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- +447024090625 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "Anthony Walker" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <walker.anthony@lawyer.com>
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 2013 18:34:48 +0100
Subject: INQUIRY
Hello,
I hope this email gets to you this time as this is my third time of sending it? I have tried without success to locate your contact address and telephone number and I resorted to communicate with you via email which is an unconventional means of relaying an important message such as this. Kindly accept my sincere apology if my email violates your message reception standards since you were not notified previously about this inquiry.
My name is Anthony Walker, I am an attorney and a Certified Private Investigator ( CPI ) We are presently conducting a standard process investigation and recommendation exercise on behalf of Royal London Savings LTD, a financial investment arm of Royal London Group. This investigation is in respect of a deceased customer who shares the same surname with you including circumstances surrounding his huge financial investments.
However, you may be interested to know that I got your impressive information after a very conscious search online for a suitable successor to the deceased customer and I have decided to contact you before concluding my investigation.
The customer died intestate and nominated no successor in title over the huge financial investments he made at Royal London Savings LTD and we have been assigned to recommend a beneficiary to secure his lodgment before the bank gets it confiscated in the next 20 working days.
The essence of this message is to request you to provide answers/comments on any or all of the four questions below:
1. Are you aware of any relative or extended family of yours born on the 17th of February 1946 who shares the same surname with you and whose last known location was England ?
2. Are you aware of any reasonable financial investments made by this person at Royal London Savings LTD, a financial investment arm of Royal London Group?
3. Could you establish beyond reasonable doubt your eligibility to assume status of successor in title to the deceased if you are legally recommended to the Bank ?
4. Would you advance a substantial part of the funds as donations to charity if you are eventually approved by the bank as the lodgment beneficiary ?
Your answers to the questions above would help to determine our recommendation to Royal London Savings LTD towards legally appointing you to inherit this investment fund after previously certified investigation by the bank had yielded negative results that there was no known relation to the deceased customer.
Be advised that we are constrained at this point from giving you detailed information concerning the investigation process for security reasons.
I would provide you with additional information on receipt of your response.
Thank you for accommodating our inquiry.
Yours Faithfully,
Anthony Walker.
Certified Private Investigator.
Tel:+447024090625
Note: Please do not respond to this INQUIRY if you have no idea of the above specified questions.
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