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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:
- "oliviabar@outlook.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Miss Lisa Tawa Kijo <olivia.btettey@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Miss Lisa Tawa Kijo <oliviabar@outlook.com>
Date: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 17:49:39 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Do You Know My Dad?
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Dear family friend,
Good morning and please this is not internet scam letter. I need your guidance to save my feature.
My name is Miss Tawa Kijo. I am a Malian living in Benin Republic. I lost my parents in the civil unrest and since then I have been without a family nor guardian.
Last week I received a package from my dads lawyer with some documents that reads deposit of Gold and Money with a deposit firm here in Benin Republic. When I was going through my dads contact listing this morning I saw your email address in there so I decided to email you. I am rather too young to handle this kind of business and I don't know what or how to go about this whole thing please can you help me? Can I confide in you? I cant go telling anyone here about this and I believe that dads friends will be trusted.
I will appreciate if you reply asap through this same e-mail or my alternative email- (oliviabar@outlook.com) I access the later address more often.
Sincerely,Miss Lisa Tawa Kidjo.  Â
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Anti-fraud resources:
