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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:
- "please indicate your interest" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Mrs Margaret Wade <margaretwadee@gmail.com>
Reply-To: Mrs Margaret Wade <margarretwade@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2015 00:00:56 +0900 (JST)
Subject: My Dearest Friend,
From:Mrs Margaret Wade,
My Dearest Friend,
I am the above named person. I am married to Mr.Laurent Wade. who before his
death was a wealthy cocoa Merchant in Cote d'Ivoire. We were married for 25 years
without a child. Before the death of my husband we were both God Loving people.
My Husband however left the sum of US$5.8million United States Dollars in a
fix/suspense account in one of the prime bank in Cote d'Ivoire. Recently, my
Doctor told me that I would not exceed more than five more months due to a cancer
problem. The one that disturbs me most is even the blood pressure sickness.
Having known my condition I decided to seek for your kind assistance to transfer
this fund into your account and you will use it to cater for my adopted daughter
who is only 16yrs. You will take her in as your God child and bring her up in a
good and decent manner with what my late husband left behind.
I took this decision to contact you because of my condition and for the facts
that my husband relatives wants to size everything and throw my adopted daughter
out of the inheritance.
So I want to use this little time I have to achieve this aim before joining my
ancestors.
Please indicate your interest and willingness in this transaction by writing back
to me as soon as possible. I want your maximum cooperation and also keep this as
confidential for security reasons.
I am sincerely waiting for your kind and urgent response as soon as you receive
this mail.
Thanks and God bless you.
Sincerely Yours,
Mrs Margaret Wade.
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