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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)
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge sum of money" (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)
- "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)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Jacob Salem" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jacobssalem@mail.com.tr>
Date: Sun, 16 Jul 2017 22:08:26 +0300
Subject: Dear Beneficiary
Jacob Salem
email: jacobsalem@mail.com.tr
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am.Jacob Salem the senior accounts officer in China Merchant Bank and financial adviser to Miss Yue Guiju who lost her life returning from her business trip to China from Malaysia in the Malaysian Airline MH370 in 8th of March 2014. May her soul rest in peace. You can visit this site: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/world/names-faces-aboard-Malaysia-airlines-flight-370-article-1.1739217#ixzz2xoJHtq8s
Since then, the Board of Directors of my Bank (China Merchant Bank) have made several inquiries to the embassy to locate any of the deceased customer's extended relations but to no avail. The deceased was not married and didn't bear any child. The current chairwoman of the investment committee of the steel manufacturing and trading group Delong Holdings Ltd. in Beijing, China as well as on the board of directors of companies in the United Kingdom as well.
I have contacted you to assist in repatriating the money and Property left behind by my client before they get Confiscated or declared unclaimed by the bank where the huge sum of money was deposited by the deceased.
The Bank has published several Notice for the Next of Kin of the deceased to apply for claims of the Funds or have the account confiscated within a short Period of time. Since I have been unsuccessful in locating the relatives for over 2 years now. I seek your consent to present you as the Next of kin of the deceased, so that the proceeds of this Account valued US$15.5m million dollars can be paid to you.
I have all legal documents that can be used to backup any claim we may make. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable this deal through. I guarantee that this will be executed under a legitimate Arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the Law. Please get in touch with my email and send to me your Address,Telephone and fax numbers to enable us further about this Transaction.
Forward your response to this email:
Please endeavor to maintain the top secret of this transaction so as to enable us to achieve the adequate success of this fortune.
Best regards,
Jacob Salem
email: jacobsalem@mail.com.tr
China Merchant Ban
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Anti-fraud resources:
