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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Bolaji Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <bolajiwalliams@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2017 14:29:47 +0100
Subject: Investment Proposal
I am Mr. Bolaji William base in United Kingdom and a friend of the government, a broker to oil block and refinery owners working closely with shipping firms to ensure products are shipped to the agreed refineries, protecting all interest and securing Forex for prompt payment.
I want you to assist me in supervising projects and making payments on my behalf to the engineers and consultants handling the construction project though construction has already commenced and hopefully will be concluded before December 2018. We have contracted fabrication engineers to manufacture special duty machines for optimum production with little or no down time. I want us to formalize as friends in business.
Let me know your fees/commission and terms and condition/ if you also have a good business plan i can invest $3m to $3b (ROI) Return of Investment.
Regard,
Bolaji Williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
