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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "foreign remittance manager" (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)
- "hundred thousand united states 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)
- "waiting for your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: KC WILLIAMS <kc.williams5@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: kc.willlams10@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sat, 8 May 2010 12:40:28 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: DR. KC.WILLIAMS
DR.
KC.WILLIAMS
FOREIGN
REMITTANCE MANAGER
Dear
Friend,
I know that
this mail will come to you as a surprise as we never meet before. I am the
FOREIGN REMITTANCE MANAGER of BANKS Here in this country ( CI ) I Hoped that
you will not expose or betray this trust and confident that I am about to repose
on you for the mutual benefit of our both families.
I need your
urgent
assistance in transferring the sum of ($18.4M) Eighteen Million Four
Hundred Thousand United
States Dollars immediately to your account. The money has been dormant
(in-active) for Nine years in our Bank here without any body coming for
it.
I want the
Bank to release the money to you as the nearest person to our deceased customer
MR. RICHARD BURSON FROM USA the owner of the account who died a long with his
supposed next of kin in plane crash since 2000. I don't want the money to go
into our Bank treasury as an abandoned fund, so this is the reason why I
contacted you, so that my Bank will release the money to you as the nearest
person to the deceased customer.
Please I would
like you to keep this proposal as a top secret and delete it if you are not
interested.
Upon receipt
of your reply I will send you full details on how the business will be executed
and also note that you will have 40% of the above mentioned amount if you agree
to help me execute this business.
Thanks and
waiting for your urgent response
Best
Regards
DR.
KC.WILLIAMS
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