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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Michael" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michael.f.kofi@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Apr 2010 09:51:20 +0100
Subject: Alluvial gold dust for sale.
Good day,
My name is Michael.Kofi. I am a dealer of precious minerals and Executive member of of Local Gold Miners here in Ghana.
I have in my possession 400kg of Alluvial Gold Dust ready for sale for any interested buyers who have interest to purchase the (AU) Gold Dust.This is a collection of Gold from Local miners here in Ghana and they have entrusted the product in my care.
Below shows the list of the item (100kg):
Commodity: Raw Alluvial Gold Dust.
Quantity: 400kg
Quality: 22+karat
Purity: 92.9%
Price: $22,000.00 usd per Kilo
Origin: Ghana.
The buyer will have to visit us here to see the gold, test it and confirm quality and quantity before buying. If you are interested in the above product please get in touch with me and we will make arrangement on the mode of delivery. Mode of Payment: To safeguard the transaction and your trust , we will like to open up serious discussion with you on your acceptable payment mode.
We are looking forward in reading from you.Hope in getting in good relationship with you.
Yours faithfully,
Michael Kofi
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Anti-fraud resources:
