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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:
- "may come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "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)
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mrs Katharina Bamba <toutten93@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: katharinabamba@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jan 2017 05:02:28 -0800
Subject: Calvary Greetings my dear
Calvary Greetings my dear,
I suppose this letter may come to you as a surprise, but I beseech you to take your time and go through the content carefully as the decision you may take will go off a long way to save souls. I am Mrs Katharina Bamba aging widow of 67 years old suffering from long time cancer. I took a certain decision of disposing my inherited fund (US$8.5 million dollars) for charity. And I needed a very honest and God fearing who can withdraw this money then use the funds for Charity work. My contact to you is to entrust the fund to you for the purpose of heading the charity work.
I found your email address from the event calendar of the year and after some prayers to the LORD, i decided to contact you if you may be willing and interested to help, handle the fund in good faith for the sake of less privilege around you.
I uphold this decision because I do not have any child who will inherit this money after I die. I want your urgent reply so that I will serve you with necessary information and the deposit slip which the bank issued to me as next of kin to the money.
Really I summoned courage to contact you with faith that you will not fail me because I am keenly in need of your assistance. I proposed of disposing 30 percent of the total money for yourself. You must neither fail me nor fail millions of less privilege outside there. This is no stolen money and there are no dangers involved with full legal proof. Please if you would be able to use the funds for the Charity works kindly let me know immediately. I will appreciate your utmost confidence and trust in the accomplishment of the charity work as I don't want anything that will jeopardize my last wish. I will appreciate your quick reply.
Please respond me for more details.
Thanks and God bless you,
Mrs Katharina Bamba
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