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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)
- "the 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: "Vincent Ramsey" <vincentram11@gmail.com>
Reply-To: vinramsey@hotmail.com
Date: Sat, 13 Mar 2010 09:14:28 +0800
Subject: Re:
Hello
First and foremost I want to introduce myself to you. My Name is Vincent
Ramsey Son to Late Dr. Mathew Ramsey. I am 18yrs old Boy and my Sister is
14yrs. Our Father was killed during rebel crisis and we are now in a refugee
camp here is wester africa, Nigeria .My consignment contains Thirty five
million United States dollars. The consignment gets abroad through the help
of a U.N diplomat Christopher Kwame. The fact is that Mr. Christopher Kwame
is supposed to have delivered this consignment to Miss Cynthia William.
The week Mr. Christopher Kwame was suppose to deliver the consignment to
her,when he got to the airport after clearing the consignment ,he called Miss
Cynthia William to tell him the description to her house for the delivery,
but her House maid answered the call and told Mr. Christopher Kwame that Miss
Cynthia William had a fatal car accident which lead to her death,that was why
Mr. Christopher Kwame has to deposit the consignment with a warehouse over
there and called us to informed us about what is happening.
Please my sister and I seek for you to stand as our Beneficiary / God Loving
Parent to get in contact with the Diplomat so that he can be able to deliver
the Consignment to you. You can get back to us.Please, Contact Mr.
Christopher Kwame on time and get back to us through mail.
Thanks and God bless you
Vincent & Jane Ramsey
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