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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)
- "please indicate your interest" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "utmost confidentiality" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- mikeibe227@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mike Ibe <valia@uni-plovdiv.bg>
Reply-To: <mikeibe227@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 2016 22:53:24 +0400
Subject: For our Mutual Benefits
Dear friend,
I am sorry for contacting you through this medium without any previous notice. I am a senior staff with Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation, (NNPC). My colleagues and I intentionally over-invoiced a contract award to the tune of USD25m. The principal contractor has been fully paid remaining the over-invoiced sum. By virtue of our civil service code of conduct, serving officers are not allowed to operate foreign bank accounts. This is the more reasons why this contact is made to you so that you will be fronted as a subcontractor to the principal contractor whose contract fund still floats unpaid.
All internal arrangements have been beefed to transfer the fund into the foreign account which you will supply to me for our mutual benefits. Please indicate your interest via fax or email hence other modalities will be discussed. There is no risk involved since the process of transfer of the fund will observe legal documentation.
Most importantly please treat with utmost confidentiality.
Best Regard,
Mike Ibe
Email:mikeibe227@gmail.com
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