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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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "the consignment" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "consignment " (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Barrister Mamadou <yingwei213@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bamasa10@qq.com
Date: Wed, 4 Jun 2014 20:33:47 +0100
Subject: Re:Proposal Deal.
Hello,
My name is Barisster Mamadou. I have a proposal for you,i know that this
mail will come to you as a surprise as we never met before, this however is
not mandatory nor will I in any manner compel you to honour it against your
WILL. It's just my urgent need for foreign business associate that made me
to contact you for this transaction.There is this huge amount of Seventeen
million United States dollars (US$17Million) which my late client
deposited,before he was killed by terrorist in Pakistan. My main purpose of
sending you this message is because of the way I found you and perhaps
trustworthy to give you this priority of shipping the consignment of the
money to your address you think is very secure and safe in your country.
It will interest you to note that you stand to receive 40% of the money
upon successful conclusion of the transaction.I wait for your response to
enable me give you further directives of the deal. I thank you immensely
for your kind co-operation and understanding.
Yours Sincerely,
Mamadou Savadogo Esq.
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