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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million us 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 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.
- abraham.nuru@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Abraham Nuru <abraham_nuru000@chamberbf.com>
Date: Sat, 17 Oct 2009 13:42:35 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: (IMPORTANT) I AM WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU SOONEST.
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Dear friend my name is Mr Abraham Nuru; I am the manager of auditing and accounting department of BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. In my department we discovered an abandoned sum $9.2 million us dollars in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer (DR. GEORGE BRUMLEY) from Florida , U.S.A) who died along with his entire family on November 2003 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased. Unfortunately I learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you, so that the money can be release to you as the next of kin. Upon your reply I will send you full
details on how the business will be executed, send me your contact information.
(1).Age
(2)Residential address
(3) Occupation
(4) Private telephone.
Waiting to hear from you,
My Regards. Reply me with this email... abraham.nuru@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
