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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:
- "might come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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)
- "million 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)
- "hundred thousand 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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Honerd Mark <petitdollar.pd@gmail.com>
Reply-To: hon.makz1960@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 15:27:08 +0200
Subject: Hello,
Hello,
This mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to
ignore it as unserious could come into your mind; but please, conside
it a divine wish and accept it with a deep sense of humility.
I work with a bank In West Africa, Togo Lome,
I have a business transaction for you. In my department we discovered
an abandoned sum of $10.5 Million US Dollars.(Ten Million five hundred
thousand United States Dollars) In an account that belongs to one of our foreign
customer who died along with his entire family in a
Bomb blast in irag Since his supposed next of kin died along side with
him at the Bomb blast, there is nobody to claim the left over balance
in the account.
It is therefore upon this discovery that I and other officials in my
department decided to seek your assistance and present you to the bank
as his Next of kin. If you accept i would give you the guide lines of
how we can achieve this transfer of the balance (10.5 Million Dollars)
to your account..and we will shear the money 50//50%.i will not fail
to bring to your notice that this transaction is 100% risk free that
you should not entertain any atom of fear as all the arrangements has
been made for the transfer. I expect that you will give me
your telephone and fax numbers for easy communication with you and for
more details.
Best Regards
Honerd Mark.
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