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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:
- "the consignment" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "million 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)
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "contact the diplomat" ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "the diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- "a diplomat " ("diplomats" who perform deliveries of cash or other valuables to you only exist in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "demo@mxhotel.no" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mercymohammed52@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 07:20:33 -0700
Subject: PLEASE WE NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE...........!!!!!!!!!!!!..............
I Need Your Assistant !!!
First and foremost I want to introduce myself to you. My Name is Brown Mohammed Son to Late Dr.Douglas Mohammed. I am 15yrs old Boy and my Sister is 14yrs. We are From Sierra Leone Our Father was killed by the some rebels during the war Crisis in Sierra Leone. So we ran to Ghana for our security . My consignment contains $28 million United States dollars and some quantity of gold and Diamond, which I cannot specify. The consignments are presently in the STATE (USA). The consignment gets to the State through the help of a Diplomat Mark Lewis The fact is that Diplomat Mark Lewis is supposed to have delivered this consignment to Mr. William Smith in the USA.
The week Diplomat Mark Lewis was suppose to deliver the consignment to him, when he got to the State after clearing the consignment from the Airport, he call Mr.William Smith to tell him the description to his house for the delivery, but his wife answered the call and told Diplomat Mark Lewis that Mr. William Smith hard a fatal car accident which lead to his death some few hours later.
Please I and my sister seek for you to stand as our new Beneficiary / God Loving Parent to contact the Diplomat so that he can be able to relocate the Consignment to you.you can call me on 00233272943066
Please, Contact Diplomat Mark Lewis on his phone number 623-255-8061 time and get back to me through mail. I await your urgent response. My sister is dieing and she needs medical treatment urgently.
Thanks and God bless you
Brown Mohammed.
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