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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ms,Sonia Kone" <skone5155@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 4 Feb 2022 00:36:59 -0800
Subject: Hope you are fine.
Hello.
I have contacted you for urgent help. My name is Ms Sonia Kone ,I am the
Son of Mr Ibrahim Kone who was murdered in my country. My late
father was a businessman that was dealing in diamonds, gold and crude
oil. I lost my mother when I was 8 years old to cancer and my brother
and I were raised by my late father.
I have not contacted you to waste your time here or take advantage of
you, I have only contacted you out of desperation because our lives
are in danger due to the war and the killing of my father.
We are presently hiding in Togo and I urgently need your help as a
result of the war, I will like you to help my younger sister and I
leave this place to start a new life. I will also like you to help me
in the claim of a deposit made by our late father with a deposit
company.
There are 3 boxes in custody of deposit company,one of the box contain
gold bars weighing 600kg and the other 3 boxes contain diamond stones
weighing 17kg each box which all these deposits are worth over five
hundred million united states dollars usd or more depending on the
current market value of the diamond stones and gold bars now.
I contacted you because I have no one to help me in the claim of this
deposit considering my present condition as a result of the war. I
want you to stand in as a family friend and my late father’s foreign
business associate to help me claim and invest the money obtained from
the sale of the deposited gold bars and diamond stones.
I want you to also arrange for our exit from here to your country or
any safe country where we can start our new life and finish our
education.
I will brief you further on the claim of this deposit with conformable
documentation as soon as I hear from you.
Please feel free to ask me any question or clarification if needed.
Thank you.
Sonia Kone.
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