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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- helene.hanot2@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "helen.hanot15@libero.it" <helen.hanot15@libero.it>
Date: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 15:52:46 +0100 (CET)
Subject: bonjour a vous bien aimer
Bonjour,
je suis Mme Hélène Hanot veuve de 72 ans de Nationalité
française.
Bien aimé je vous contacte aujourd'hui par rapport à un projet de donation qui
me tient vraiment à cœur.
Mon défunt mari a fait fortune dans le pétrole en Russie et nous n'avons pas
eu d'enfant
jusqu'à sa mort après 37 ans de mariage et toute cette fortune s’élève
aujourd’hui à plus de douze millions de dollars et si je ne trouve pas un
héritier et bien, tout ceci va rester dans la caisse de l'état ce que je ne
veux pas.
Donc je souhaite mettre cette fortune à votre disposition afin de faire
profiter les pauvres, orphelins et sans abris.
Bien aimé, si mon projet de donation vous intéresse je veux que vous me
répondiez très rapidement en me donnant votre opinion, car je suis entrain de
me battre dans la maladie dans un hôpital de la Cote D'ivoire ( Abidjan) je
vous laisse mon émail privé : helene.hanot2@gmail.com
Que DIEU vous bénisse
Madam. Hélène Hanot
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Anti-fraud resources:
