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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned 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: "Alfonso Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alfiba@hotmail.fr>
Date: Thu, 26 Aug 2010 10:56:56 +0100
Subject: Dear, please attend to our request
Dear, please attend to our request
greetings to you
Please permit our introduction. I am Alfonso Williams and my Sister name
Linda. We are writing to seek your help and advice. We want to do
investment in your country and at the same time further our education. We
got your contact address through our late father’s international business
directory and we decided to contact you to seek for your kind assistance in
helping us invest our inheritance in your country. We lost our parents few
years ago. Our father and his half brother were murdered by assailants
during a midnight rebel shoot out in our country. Our mother sustained a
very severe bullet injury the same night which resulted to her untimely
death four days after she was rushed down to a private hospital. Shortly
before this unfortunate incident, my father had informed me about an
important business deal he had executed with some of his colleagues in the
office. He told me that he diverted some money totaling $8,300.000 which
they realized from the sale of gold and diamonds in the black market. He
told me that he deposited the money in the bank in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire.
Now we want to finally relocate to your country with this money so that we
can start a new life and further our education. We have visited the bank
where our father deposited the money and identified ourselves properly and
informed them about the sad fate our father had suffered. We will need your
help in the following ways, to help us provide your safe bank account and
to help us stand as our guardian over this money before the bank so that
they will release and transfer the money to you and also help us bring us
over to your country and secure a good college for me and my little sister
so that we can continue our college education and also make arrangement for
a good business investment which you will invest with the money on our
behalf. We are willing to give you any amount which you will wish to have
after receiving the money in your safe bank account. If you can help us do
this, we will need your contact to present to the bank as our guardian so
that the bank will contact you. We hope to hear from you soon. Thank you
and May God bless you and your family.
Sincerely
Alfonso and Linda
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