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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:
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "sani abacha" (the name of a person or institution often appearing 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: "Mr.Evidence Osakwe " <evidenceosakwe100@gmail.com>
Reply-To: evidenceosakwe44@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 09 Jan 2014 18:42:48 +0100
Subject: let do it
Good day
Owing to the current sanitisation of the Oil and Gas sector in The Federal Republic of Nigeria by the present administration of President Good luck Ebele
Jonathan, I write you this Proposal for an urgent business accord. I am the current secretary to the oil and Gas Trust Funds Committee (OGTFC) set up last
year by the Presidency to bring sanity to the Oil and Gas sector in Nigeria by ensuring the sector is revitalized and put back in its best form. Part of the
committee's mandate is to pay up all debts that the Federal Government of Nigeria owe its foreign contractors and in the course of my job which entails
carrying out inquiries on foreign contractors that we are to pay, a notice was brought forward to me on a contract awarded to a foreign firm to "SUPPLY
PIPELINE PRODUCTS TO THE WARRI, KADUNA AND PORT-HARCOURT REFINERIES" issued out by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) in 1995 by the then
Military regime of Late General Sani Abacha when the 3 Refineries were undergoing a Turn Around Main
This is why I decided to contact you to assist me in achieving this objectives. I will want you to know that there is no risk involved in this deal
especially with my being the Secretary of the committee and since the funds have been made available for payment by the Presidency, it will be paid as soon
as you apply for it. All I want you to do is indicate in your reply to this mail that you can assist me so that we can then work out the percentage that
would be accrued to you for your assistance. Please only get back to me if you know you are capable of handling this deal.
While I await your response.
Thank You,
Yours Faithful,
Evidence Osakwe
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