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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- nikiemaboa1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Nikiema Boa <forboaburkina@gmail.com>
Reply-To: nikiemaboa1@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 7 Apr 2023 14:45:40 +0100
Subject: Reply Urgent.
Dear Friend,
How are you doing today? I know that this message will come to you as
a surprise. I am the Auditing and Accounting section manager with Bank
Of Africa, Ouagadougou Burkina Faso. I Hope that you will not expose
or betray this trust and confident that I am about to unveil to you
for the mutual benefit of our both families, and the poor ones in the
society.
I need your urgent assistance in transferring the sum of ($7.8)
million to your bank account or crypto wallet within 10 or 14 banking
days. This money has been dormant for 12 years in our Bank without
claim. I want the bank to release the money to you as an in-law to our
deceased customer who died in a plane crash in 2010.
Please I would like you to keep this proposal as top secret and delete
it if you are not interested. Upon receipt of your reply, I will give
you full details on how the business will be executed peacefully.
I am expecting your urgent response[ nikiemaboa1@gmail.com ].
Thank you in advance for your anticipated co-operation.
Best Regard,
Nikiema Boa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
