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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:
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Joseph Diara" <mr.josephdiara94@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: "Mr.Joseph Diara" <josephdiara151@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Dec 2014 15:04:05 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: your reply needed asap.
 Dear Sir/Mrs,
I am currently working as an assistant director in the Nigeria Federal Ministry Of Petroleum and Natural Resources.
There is a Fund which has remained unclaimed for years and after series of investigations we found out that the fund claim was an inflated contract payment and the relevant documents to claim it legally was missing hence the transfer of the fund was stopped by the federal government.
Therefore, if you are interested i want you to come forward and claim this fund as the true beneficiary and with my position and your cooperation all the legal documents backing the fund in your name as the true beneficiary will be legally obtained and documented for transfer and the transfer of the fund will take place immediately. Please, note that there is no risk involved.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Joseph Diara
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Anti-fraud resources:
