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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "huge sum of money" (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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045729947 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: Robert Le Blanc <mr.blanc@msn.com>
Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2010 06:01:14 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Business Proposal.
Dear friend,
My name is Mr. Robert Blanc, the operations manager of Credit Suisse Bank in London and am sending you this mail from my office through the internet with reservations. Basically the issue I want to unravel to you is very classified and confidential. It involves a huge sum of money from a foreign deceased customer deposited here in the Bank where I work. The choice of contacting you is aroused from the geographical nature of where you live, particularly due to the sensitivity of the transaction and the confidentiality herein.
I would like to seek your permission to have you stand as the family representative of the deceased to retrieve the funds into your account because since the death of our customer none of his relatives has come forward to claim his money in our bank as the next of kin and our bank will not release the money unless someone applies for claim.
Please I need your urgent co-operation because the British banking policy and guideline stipulates that any funds belonging to a deceased person for a period of 5years will be transferred into the Bank treasury as an unclaimed debt and I do not want that to happen which is why I need your assistance. If you are willing to accept my proposal kindly reply my mail by indicating your interest, thereafter percentages and more information will be relayed to you on my next mail.
Yours Sincerely,
Mr. Robert Le Blanc
Tel: (44)7045729947
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Anti-fraud resources:
