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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "there are practically no risks involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Tony Abua" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <tony20abua@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 3 Jun 2009 13:02:02 -0700
Subject: Very urgent response please
Hello Friend,
My name is Tony Abua I am the regional manager of International commercial bank ltd (ICB) tama branch in the great Accra region of Ghana. I got your information on a recent bank conference with other West African countries held in Lome the capital city of Togo in West Africa. I write you this proposal in good faith; I am 44 years old married with two lovely kids. I am a devoted Christian and a man of peace.
I have packaged a financial transaction that will benefit you and I, as the regional manager of the International commercial bank ltd (ICB) it is my duty to send in a financial report to my head office in the capital city Accra at the end of each business year. On the course of the last year 2008 business report, I discovered that my branch in which I am the manager made save million five hundred twenty united state dollars ($7.520) used which my head office are not aware of and will never be aware of. I have placed this funds on what we call escrow call account with no beneficiary.
As an officer of this bank I cannot be directly connected to this money, so my aim of contacting you is to assist me receive this money in your bank account and get 30% of the total funds as commission.
There are practically no risks involved, it will be a bank-to-bank transfer, and all I need from you is to stand claim as the original depositor of these funds who made the deposit with my branch so that my head office can order the transfer to your designated bank account.
Remember there is no risk involved i promise.
Thank you in advance and May God bless you and your family.
Your urgent reply is needed
Tony Abua
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