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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Contract Alert" <mandeelr@batelco.com.bh>
Reply-To: ayudarluc@aol.com
Date: Sat, 15 Oct 2016 22:13:09 +0200
Subject: Oil Project Alert
DEAR SIR/MADAM, SENDING THIS E-MAIL TO YOU IS BASED ON THE INFORMATION I GA=
THERED DURING MY SEARCH ON THE INTERNET. I MUST APOLOGIES FOR USING EMAIL T=
O REACH YOU FOR A BUSINESS PROPOSAL OF THIS KIND. I AND MY COLLEAGUE ARE ME=
MBERS OF COMMITTEE FOR BUDGET AND PLANNING IN ONE OF THE LARGEST OIL COMPAN=
Y IN MADRID SPAIN. OUR COMMITTEE IS PRINCIPALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR APPROVAL OF=
CONTRACTS AND OTHER CAPITAL PROJECT CONCERNING OIL AND GAS. WITH OUR POSIT=
IONS, WE HAVE SUCCESSFULLY SECURED FOR OURSELVES SEVENTY FIVE MILLION EURO =
(=8075,000,000.00). THE FUND ACCRUED FROM OVER INVOICE ON CONTRACTS AWARDED=
TO FOREIGN AND INDIGENOUS CONTRACTORS FOR MAINTENANCE/SUPPLY OF PETRO - CH=
EMICAL DEVICES. WHAT WE NEED FROM YOU IS TO PROVIDE US WITH A SAFE BANK ACC=
OUNT INTO WHICH THE FUNDS WILL BE TRANSFERRED BECAUSE AS CIVIL SERVANTS WE =
ARE NOT ALLOWED BY THE LAW TO OPERATE A FOREIGN ACCOUNT. IF THIS PROPOSAL I=
NTERESTS YOU, PLEASE EMAIL US YOUR ACCEPTANCE RESPONSE TO ENABLE US ADVICE =
YOU ON THE PROCEDURES OF THE TRANSACTION. ALL MODALITIES FOR A HITCH FREE T=
RANSACTION HAVE BEEN PERFECTED AND THE TRANSACTION WILL NOT TAKE US MORE TH=
AN 14 WORKING DAYS TO CONCLUDE STARTING FROM THE DAY WE RECEIVE YOUR ACCEPT=
ANCE EMAIL. PLEASE TREAT AS URGENT AND CONFIDENTIAL AS WE LOOK FORWARD TO R=
ECEIVE YOUR REPLY. YOURS FAITHFULLY OSCAR GONZALEZ=20
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Anti-fraud resources:
