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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "johnmaluife12@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- "johnmaluife12@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "John Maluife" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <johnmaluife12@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2011 23:12:48 -0800
Subject: No upfront payment
Email: Reply to: johnmaluife12@yahoo.cn
>From the Desk of Dr.John Maluife.
Dear Sir,
I work as a telex officer with the central bank of Nigeria. I have very good news for you but it all depends on your willingness to respond to respond to this mail. After the death of our former president. Our new president has published in the official gazette that
All contractors both foreign and indigenous that are still being owed by the federal government for a very long time should be paid off without any upfront payment.
I know that this is just an act of God because the new president has come to redeem the image of our dear country.Meanwhile,i want to tell you that if you are interested to partake in this payment exercise will advise you to send as quickly as possible, your current bank account details where you want this fund to be transferred into since your name is among the names of the contractors/Next of Kin that was published for
Payment. Please there is no bank charge as this is the instruction from the presidency.
I need an urgent reply.
Truly yours,
John Maluife,
Reply to: johnmaluife12@yahoo.cn
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Anti-fraud resources: