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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:
- "please indicate your interest" (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 "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Jana Lofer <jana.lofer@hotmail.com>
Date: Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:12:11 -0500
Subject: PLEASE CAN I TRUST YOU!!
My Dearest ,
I am the above named person. I am married to Mr. Odman
Lofer who before his death was a wealthy cocoa Merchant here in Cote
d'Ivoire . We were married for 26 years without a child.
My
Husband left the sum of US$3.800 million United States Dollars in a
fix/suspense account in one of the prime bank here in Cote d'Ivoire .
Recently, my Doctor told me that I would not exceed more than five more
months due to cancer problem. The one that disturbs me most is my blood
pressure sickness. Having known my condition I decided to seek for your
kind assistance to transfer this fund into your account and you will
use it to train my adopted daughter who is 16yrs. You will take her as
your God child and brought her up in a good and decent manner with what
my late husband left behind.
I took this decision to contact
because of my condition and for the facts that my husband relatives
wants to size everything and throw my adopted daughter out of the
inheritance.So I want to use this little time I have to achieve this
arm before joining my ancestors.
Please
indicate your interest and willingness in this transaction by writing
back to me through the above email address. I want your maximum
cooperation and keep this as confidential for security reasons.I am
sincerely waiting for your kind and urgent response as soon as your
receive this mail.
Thanks and God bless you. Sincerely Yours Mrs Jana Lofer
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Anti-fraud resources: