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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Micheal Boateng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michealboateng206@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 2014 13:18:17 -0500
Subject: RE:Business Proposal
Hello Sir,
I am Mr Micheal Boateng from Ashanti Region of Ghana,West Africa.I am a Local Gold miner here in my village with about 100 workers mining locally for me in my mining site with locally made mining and washing machines.I have decided to seek for an international partnership who is willing to partner with me to be able to raise the standard and increase the level of our production weekly.I have been able to mine 16 kilos of Gold so far since i inherited this mining site from my late father who was a chief of our village.I am presently having the 16 kilos of Gold in my possession and i have a valid shipping license.I have made up my mind to sell the 16 kilos at a very good price below the normal world market Gold price and partner with the buyer in order to be able to raise money to buy some new and modern mining machines.I have decided to contact you as regard this proposal because is really a great opportunity for us to partner and handle the business together with one mind.
I will be waiting to hear from you as soon as possible so that we can proceed from here.
Mr Micheal Boateng
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Anti-fraud resources:
