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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)
- "may come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Amor Somda and Son." <anichebedived2222@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrssomdamor@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 11 Nov 2021 10:09:54 +0100
Subject: Please I Need Your Help.
Good Day My Dear Friend,
Good Day to you and your families. I am Mrs. Amor SOMDA, the wife of
the deceased former Head of Delegation to the World Bank in West
Africa. My husband (SOMDA TAMIYU ADAGBA) was the linkman between the
Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries - OPEC and the
petroleum sector in a West African country. He also attended OPEC
meetings constantly in Geneva before his death caused by cardiac
arrest in our home town.
Through the sale of our allocated oil quota in OPEC he was able to
make S$15.5million which he deposited with one of the banks in our
country as a business associate partner fund and not in my name or
name of anybody. I need your help in claiming this money as i cannot
claim it directly because he made the deposit as a fund belonging to
his business associate in order for our country government not to
raise eyebrow on it since he was a civil servant during that time, and
the code of conduct bureau forbids him or his wife to acquire such
amount of money.
It is on this basis that I am contacting you for assistance which I
know that you are very capable to help me claim the fund, if you will
be interested all the necessary claim documents that would cover the
fund into your account shall be procure in your name as a beneficiary
of the fund and no authorities will question you the origin of the
fund. I promise you that you shall be entitled to 40% of the total
funds while the rest will be given to me on arrival in your country
for the up keeping of my only son and for further investment under
your care and control there in your country as I can not be able to do
any investment here in West Africa due to the origin of the said fund.
I will not fail to bring to your notice that this business is risk
free and doesn't have any negative implications. You should not
entertain any fear at all now or in future as all modalities for the
smooth and easy transfer of this fund have been finalized. If you can
conveniently assure me of your ability to keep this business very
secret and confidential and then promise me that you will not betray
me when the fund enters into your account in your country then Kindly
contact me for more details.
Thank you in advance for taking time out of your busy day to read and
consider my proposal.My message may come to you as a surprise but
don’t worry is for good because it is my honest desire to share the
transaction relationship with you for which I am contacting you today.
Get back to me if you are truly interested.
Finally I want you to know that I cannot talk very well being a Stammering.
Best regards,
Mrs. Amor Somda and Son.
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