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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:
- "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)
- "million 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: "Khalid Omar" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <khomar707@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 2 Jul 2014 08:50:37 -0700
Subject: Investment Fund Transfer
Hello,
How are you today?. I have a very good contact to wire some $200 million dollars(Two hundred million United States Dollars) from a Petroleum Industry contract to you without a trace or problems.You would have 30% of the sum for assistance to pull the funds, and the rest you will also help to invest for us in good line of business. Let me know if you are interested asap and I will explain more about the funds to you.BUT PLEASE I WOULD LIKE YOU TO REASSURE ME THAT YOU WILL NOT SIT ON THE MONEY WHEN IT GETS TO YOUR ACCOUNT, BECAUSE THIS IS THE ONLY CHANCE AND OPPORTUNITY WE HAVE TO SETTLE OURSELVES AND RETIRE WELL FROM SERVICE TO THE GOVERNMENT AFTER
MANY YEARS OF SERVICE.
Looking forward to your reply with your phone number.
Khalid Omar
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Anti-fraud resources:
