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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:
- "account in your country or any safer place" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge sum of money" (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 us 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: Masekow <mmasekow@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mmasekow@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 11:23:44 +0100
Subject: Respond Immediately !
My dear,
I am Mrs. Mary Masekow from South Africa.I am a widow with one
child.I was married to Mr.Mohammed Youif Masekow. My husband was a
serving director of the Gold exporting board,a businessman here in
South Africa until his death.My husband was involved in the ghastly
Auto Crash.
During my investigations about my husband's documents and business
information's , I came across a very huge sum of money belonging to
my husband he had foreign account in United Kingdom up to the Tune of
$17.450million US dollars which he told the bank was for the
importation of Gold processing machine.
I want you to do me a favor to receive this fund to a safe account in
your country or any safer place as the beneficiary.I have plans to do
investment in your country like real estate and industrial
production.Please I am writing with heart felt condition because of
how I lost my beloved husband.You are going to be the one to direct
and invest this money for me in your country and with your assistance
to come over to your country soonest the fund must have been transfer
to you.I am offering you %30 of the total money for your
assistance,while invest the rest in your country.God will reward you
as you are going to help me out is this predicament.Give me the
following information's if interesting to assist me in the matter.God
be with you always.
Full Name...............................
Marital Status ...............................
Age.......................................
phone number.. ......................
fax number.............................
Thanks and best regards,
Mrs Mary Masekow
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