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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Rullins Mensa" <jamesmarkbanker@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mr.rullinsmensa@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 14 Apr 2014 09:41:08 -0700
Subject: CONTRACT TENDER
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Dear Sir/Madam,
My reason of contacting you is to let you know that there is awarding of
contract tender going on for the supplying of various products in West
African country etc.
My name is Mr. Rullins Mensa from Accra Ghana, am Agent sourcing for
international supplier or company that can hand the supply other of their
product in which they are dealing with.
if you are interested to participate for the contract kindly get back to me
with your product list or catalog / web site to enable me view and give you
more details regarding the items needed for the supply. I want you to know
that am a local agent who work under the chairman of contract awarding
committee I wait for your reply
Mr. Rullins Mensa (Agent)
Tel: +233547214557
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Anti-fraud resources:
