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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)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Charles Nduka" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <charlesndukangr@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2017 07:17:12 -0500
Subject: waiting for your answer
Dear Friend,
I am an assistant director in the Nigerian Federal Ministry Of Petroleum and Natural resources.A contract fund which has remained unclaimed for years and after series of investigations we found out that the fund claim was an inflated contract payment and the relevant documents to claim it legally was missing hence the transfer of the fund was stopped by the federal government.
Therefore,If you are interested to work with me as a family then i want you to come forward and claim this fund as as the true beneficiary and we shall share the fund 60-40% with my position and your cooperation/understanding all the legal documents backing the fund in your name/address as the true beneficiary shall be legally obtained and documented for transfer and the transfer of the fund shall take place immediately.
Please,note that there is no risk involved as long as you are able to keep everything to yourself only and maintain absolute confidentiality now and after you have received the fund.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr.Charles Nduka.
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Anti-fraud resources:
