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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Anna Kouassi <cstrbenk@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: anna.kouassi@yahoo.fr
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 2015 18:35:20 +0100
Subject: From Anna Kouassi
Hello,
Compliments of day to you, obviously this message might come as a surprise to you, but please consider it as a high priority issue, which will definitely change our destiny for good.
Please it is my honor to seek your assistance to invest my inheritance fund in lucrative business in your country.
The main objective of this proposal is to assist me in few ways (1) to assist me transfer my inheritance to your account. If possible you can set up a special account on your name. After the fund will be transferred to your account I will come to your country to continue my education. (2) To help me receive the gold my late father deposited in the security vault before his death (3) To help me have a stay in your country when I will come over to meet with you and continue my education (4) to help me manage the investment until I will be old enough to handle it.
Upon your response I will give you all the details procedures on how to go about this investment but I can guarantee that all will be handled according to law.
I am deeply interested to offer you 25% of total amount involve for your assistance and before procession of this investment we will draft an agreement between you and me for good understanding.
Waiting for your kind response.
Thanks and God bless you.
Best regard
Anna Kouassi
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Anti-fraud resources:
