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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:
- "million 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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr.Randy Kelvin" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <donofficedept@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 14 Jul 2010 19:16:35 +0100
Subject: TO GOD BE THE GLORY
OFFICE OF DR RANDY KELVIN
THE AUDITOR BANK OF ENGLAND
Threadneedle Street
London EC2R 8AH
TEL:
DEAR ;
I am Dr.Randy Kelvin auditor with central bank of England (BOE) while
checking contractors payment files I discovered an unclaimed sum of money
$10 million (Ten million Dollars) Belonging to one Mr. Martins, who
was a contractor with the Oil and gas corporations London UK (OGC).
He died two years ago his contract number is OGC/2930/MXN/28/PED/920.
I am writing you this letter to ask for your support and co-operation to
transfer this money into your bank account or to release it to you in cash.
Infact it is my friend that advised me to urgently arrange to transfer out this money through another foreign Beneficiary outside the country since the owner Mr. Martins is a
foreigner and he died two years ago.I have carefully placed the $10 million in an Escrow Call Deposit Account in one of our correspondence bank outside United Kingdom and I did not declare this to my head office.
Our central bank guidelines indicates that if such
money remain unclaimed for a period of four (4) years, it will be transfer
into central bank Treasury as unclaimed fund.
Indicate your telephone and fax numbers for effective communication.
I have decided to share the money 60% to me and,40% to you. I will
do my best to see that we conclude this transaction successfully on time.
Please, l want you to know that all l require from you in this transaction is sincerity
and honesty for this arrangement is for our mutual benefits.
Waiting for your response,
Best Regards.
Dr.Randy Kelvin
N/B:If you are willing and interested to work with me,forward in your response
the following information's:
FULL NAMES:...................AGE.....................
RESIDENTIAL ADDRESS.............OCCUPATION:.................
PHONE:..............COUNTRY:....................
COMPANY:............(IF ANY)EMAIL......................
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