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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mrelias.saliba88@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 26 Oct 2015 15:08:12 +0800
Subject: My Dear Friend
Dear Partner
I know that message come to you as a surprise. I am the Auditing and
Accounting section manager with Bank Burkina faso. I Hope that you will not
expose or betray trust and confident which I am respose on you the mutual
benefit for families.I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum
of($6)million to your account within 10 or 14 banking days.note that you will
have 40% of the above mentioned sum while 60% will be for me
money has been dormant for years in our Bank without claim.I want the bank to
release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased
customer,besides I don't want the money to go into government treasury as an
abandoned fund. So is the reason why I am contacting you so that the bank can
release the money to you as the next of kin to the deceased customer.Please I
would like you to keep proposal as a top secret between me and you. Upon
receipt of your reply,
I will give you full details on how the business will be executed and also
note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned sum while 60% will be for
me,if you agree to handle business with me reply immediately
(1.) your Name:
(2.) Country:
(3.)Phone Nb:
(4.)your passport:
(5.)your Occupation:
Best Regards,
Mr Elias Saliba
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Anti-fraud resources:
