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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "very confidential" (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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- steven_owusuu@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr Steven Owusu" <infhyu@outlook.com>
Reply-To: stevenxowusu@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 02:36:29 +0300 (EEST)
Subject: Strictly Confidential
FROM THE DESK OF MR.STEVEN OWUSU.
AUDITING DEPARTMENT
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT BANK
GHANA WEST AFRICA.
Attention,
I Mr.Steven Owusu, accountant with one of the banks here in Ghana.i
solicit your urgent assistance on business of transferring the sum of
(usd 8.400 million) into a safe foreign account and it must be very
confidential.
I wish to inform you that I discovered the said amount of money during our
last audit work in the month of December 2009. I discovered this money
belongs to a late client of mine, a very rich farmer from Gaza who died
in war since then we have been looking for someone to bear as his next of
kin no success was made, i solicit your urgent response to present you as
his next of kin .
(1) Full names:........................................
(2) Private phone number:.....................
(3) Current residential address:.............
(4) Occupation:........................................
(5) Age and Sex:......................................
Kind Regards,
Mr.Steven Owusu.
=================================================================================================================
THIS E-MAIL IS MY TEMPORARY ADDRESS. FOR SECURITY REASONS, I PREFER YOU
SEND ME YOUR REPLIES VIA MY PRIVATE CONTACT E-MAIL:
steven_owusuu@yahoo.com
THANKS Mr Steven Owusu.
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