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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." <tibuzogod@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrssomdamor@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2021 12:14:04 +0100
Subject: How are you
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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