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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- woodivan1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Barr Ivan Wood <ppius550@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <woodivan1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2015 13:48:38 +0100
Subject: inheritance fund
Greetings my dear friend.
My name is Barrister. Ivan Wood, I am a legal attorney to expatriate
Diamond miner named
Jacob Norman who has a fixed deposit valued at( US$21million) with a
bank which i can not
disclose to you now until i receive your response. Engr. Jacob Norman
died with his entire
family in the Tsunami that happened in Japan on March 11, 2011 during
vacation leaving
behind no next of kin. I solicit for your cooperation to stand as
the next of kin to the
deceased and claim these funds from the bank.
This arrangement would be strictly known between you and me
only. There won't be any risk
involved because I have all the details of the deceased
information/documents which I will
provide for you to claim the funds without hitch. If you accept my
proposal, we shall share
these funds in ratio of 60% for me and 40% for you. Please I need
your sincerity and
honesty in this transaction.
If you are interested, kindly Send your private telephone
number and address to me for more
details. I will also send my full contact information to you.
Please keep this matter very
confidential and reply me through this Email:woodivan1@gmail.com
Yours faithfully,
Barrister Ivan Wood
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