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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:
- "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)
- "ecowas " (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ousseini Agali" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ousseiniagali@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Dec 2016 02:34:57 -0800
Subject: IMPORTANT MESSAGE
Dear Sir,
First and foremost, i must solicit your outmost confidence in this transaction which i present to you and i pray that my decision to contact you will be given genuine consideration considering the fact that we dont know each other before. I wish to use this opportunity to introduce myself to you. I am Ousseini Agali, a seventeen year old boy from The Republic of Niger in West Africa. I am the first son of Ousseini Bassirou.
My father was a gold merchant. He was shot on his way travelling to Abalak from the capital with my mother and elder sister while i was in boarding school. My sister died on the spot but the Ecowas Peace Keeping Force rescued my father. He was taken to the hospital for medical treatment but he died three months back. Before he died he revealed to me a secret about a security vault containing $10 Million US Dollars which he deposited with an insurance and security company in Ghana for safe keeping.
Presently i am here in Ghana staying in the debunked refugee camp. I have notified the security company of my fathers passing and my claim on the deposit he made with them. I was told by the firm that the contract bond my fathher made states that due to market instability coupled with economic and political instability facing African countries he wants the funds to be invested abroad, so therefore i must get a foreign beneficiary in order to claim the content of the security vault as next of kin. I want you to help me receive the funds, take me to your country and invest the funds for me until i finish my education. For your kind assistance i offer you 25% of the total amount of the funds.
I have all the vital documents covering the deposit and the ownership which i can send to you on request.
Best Regards
Ousseini Agali
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