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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: helen tuko <helen.tuko@qip.ru>
Reply-To: helen tuko <helentuko@yandex.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2014 22:07:24 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: MAY YOUR DAY'S BE BLESS
MAY YOUR DAY'S BE BLESS
My name is helen tuko i am 21 years old from Liberia. Please go through below my mail to see if you can assist for our mutual benefit.My late father was a cocoa and gold business man.
He died in a motor accident with my mother one week after his trip to Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire to negotiate on a cocoa business he wanted to invest in. My mother died instantly and my father followed up five days after in the hospital. May there soul rest in perfect peace.
Before the death of my father, he disclosed to me about sum of $7.5,000,000USD) seven Million Five Hundred Thousands United States Dollars he deposited in a bank in Cote d' Ivoire for the investment with my name as next of kin.
I am a novice in terms of business and can not be able to handle investment of the money by my self and i do not want to involve my relatives as instructed by my late father.
I solicit for your assistance to guard me invest the money as partners under your care.
If we happen to do this together, before any thing is done with the money,
I will give you 25% of the total money as compensation for your assistance.
I look forward to hearing from you for more details if you are willing able to handle this.
Best regards.
helen tuko
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Anti-fraud resources:
