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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:
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Mathew <"@bouwplaats.nieuwedagnetwerk.net (sbsa@safrica.co.za>)
Reply-To: zikalalamathew@mail.ru
Date: Tue, 11 Aug 2020 13:46:29 +0200
Subject: Greetings from SA.
From:Dr. Mathew Zikalala Telephone: +27837279295 Email: zikalalamathew@mail=
.ru Date;11/08/2020 (CONFIDENTIAL PROPOSAL) Hello, My Name is Dr. Mathew Zi=
kalala the Chief Operating Officer of Standard Bank of South Africa and I a=
m in need of a reliable foreigner to carry out this important deal. An acco=
unt was opened in my bank by one of my customer in the name of MR. THOMAS B=
AHIA a Dutch National from Germany who made a fixed deposit of $11,500,000.=
00 (Eleven Million, Five hundred Thousand United States Dollars) and never =
show up again for ten years now and I later discovered that he died with hi=
s entire family members on a plan crash and below is the link to the crash.=
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/13/world/middleeast/13libya.html Now I want=
to present a foreigner as next of kin to late Thomas so we can make the cl=
aim because if no body makes the claim, the fund will be taken by the Gover=
nment as unclaimmed funds and it will be stolen by Government currupt offic=
ials and that I do not want to happen and you can contact me if you are int=
erested so I can give you more detailed information about this transaction.=
the total amount to be transferred now is $12.2 million because of the int=
erest the funds has accumulated since 2010 and the shearing ratio will be 4=
0% for you, 50% for me and 10% to cover our expenses after the deal. Thanks=
. Dr. Mathew Zikalala.
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