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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- 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.
- t_maun@aol.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "THOMAS MANU" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dale9346967@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Sep 2017 12:05:07 -0700
Subject: Re: Compliment of the day.
THOMAS MANU
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
GNPC
ACCRA GHANA
E-mail: t_maun@aol.com
DEAR SIR/MADAM,
MY NAME IS THOMAS MANU, THE DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS AT THE GHANA NATIONAL PETROLEUM CORPORATION. I APPRECIATE THIS CHANCE TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOU TO MOVE MY INVESTMENT FORWARD AS I VALUE YOUR EXPERTISE IN THE PROCESS. IN MY QUEST TO ESTABLISH A VIABLE INVESTMENT, MY SOLICITOR RECOMMENDED YOU AS A PERSON WITH INNOVATIVE PROGRAMS THAT HAVE SEEN BUSINESSES SUCCEED IN YOUR COUNTRY.
FOR THIS REASON, I AM OPTIMISTIC THAT YOU WILL FIND MY PROPOSAL OF $50 MILLION, A GOOD INVESTMENT CAPITAL FOR AN ESTABLISHMENT IN YOUR METROPOLIS WITH HIGH POTENTIAL RETURNS. I WOULD GREATLY APPRECIATE THE CHANCE TO MEET WITH YOU SO WE CAN START NEGOTIATION AND TRANSFER PROCESS.
PLEASE ACKNOWLEDGE PROPOSAL SO THAT WE PROCEED WITH DETAILS.
SINCERELY,
THOMAS MANU
DIRECTOR
GNPC
E-mail: t_maun@aol.com
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This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus
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Anti-fraud resources:
