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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge sum of money" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. David Kwan" <walgreens@ati.tn>
Reply-To: davidkwan002@qq.com
Date: Thu, 01 Sep 2016 02:37:43 +0100
Subject: LETTER OF BUSINESS PROPOSAL
Dear Friend,
=
I am Mr.David Kwan, Head of Credit Risk Management and was app=
ointed Deputy Chief Risk Officer in 2013 and I am contacting you=
based on Trust and confidentiality that will be attached to thi=
s transaction.late Ron Bramlage's Plane Crashes into Florida swamp =
Killing His Wife, 4 Children and Himself.
The bank having made several efforts to contact any of his re=
latives to claim this money but without success have decided to =
confiscate the fund and declare it public fund.
Reason l am contacting you. You can read more from these websit=
es:
=
1. http://thecomingcrisis.blogspot.com/2012/06/ron-bramlages-plane-crashes=
-into.html
=
=
Late Mr. Ron Bramlage was an account holder in my branch; he ow=
ns a dollar account with a huge sum of money deposited in a Se=
cret account with my branch. l will present you as Ron family s=
haring the last name.
=
This is where I am interested and where I want you to come in,=
I want you to come in as a relative of the deceased do not =
bother that you are not in any way related to him because I am=
in position to affix your name as the next of kin to the dec=
eased and no one will question it since I am the officer in ch=
arge of the account.
Confirm your details and willingness to work out this with me. =
Kindly respond promptly so that I can advice you on what next t=
o do.
=
I will be waiting to hear from you. Reply all Email to ; d=
avidkwan002@qq.com
=
Yours truly,
Mr. David Kwan
Head of Credit Risk Management
China CITIC Bank International Limited
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Anti-fraud resources:
