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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "ESSIEN KOFFIr" <account.upgrade@email.com>
Reply-To: tmo.sapina@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 03 Feb 2015 08:26:36 +0400
Subject: YOUR REPLY NEEDED !!
Dear Friend,
I write to inform you that I and you can claim 150kg gold left behind by o=
ne of my clients over 6 years now in Security Company. My client travelled =
to Iraq for a business trip and cloud not return till today. Sources and se=
ries of investigations have proved that he was murdered there by the Islami=
c terrorist group; there is no way to contact anybody from his family.
The security company had already ordered the shipping company to process t=
he shipment by my client order but were waiting for his return which he cou=
ld not till now.
=
The gold is still in the shipping vault till today and they demand that i s=
hould bring a next of kin since you come from the same country and bear the=
same last name as my deaced client, i decided to contact you for us to cle=
ar this gold and make sale. It will interest you to know that gold price is=
now going higher and it=2019s at 45,000 usd per kg and now we will have 15=
0kg, check out what future have for us if you will accept my proposal.
We have to do this fast as the law of my country state that any goods not=
serviced for a long period of time will be forfeited and mark UNCLAIMED by=
the government.
Reply me now for Details and also SEND ME contact me on mobile +2299416231=
6 for details.
Tomas Sapina.
=
150kg of gold available.
________ Information from NOD32 ________
This message was checked by NOD32 Antivirus System for Linux Mail Server.
http://www.nod32.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
