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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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: sgtbrianclark7777@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Sun, 03 Apr 2011 09:33:08 +0100
Subject: VERY URGENT MATTER!
=3Cbr=3E=3Cbr=3EVERY URGENT MATTER! =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3EDear Beloved=2C =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3EI salute you=2E May I ask for your permission to relay this piec=
e of information to you regarding a business venture=2C which I and two =
other colleagues in the joint military service in Iraq wish to disclose =
to you=2E I am SGT CLARK of the allied military service in Iraq=2E We ha=
ve =2412 million to invest in your country and the funds were secured in=
CASH in many trunk boxes during one of our raid operations in the area =
occupied by called CHEMICAL ALI=2C one of the former aides to late Iraqi=
president Saddam Hussein =2E =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3EWe discovered many boxes containing cash of united states dollar=
s in the operation and eventually=2C my self and two other junior office=
rs were able to move one of the boxes containing =2412MILLION out of ira=
q for our future investments through the missionary diplomatic service i=
n Iraq=2E You can check this through the enclosed news =
=3Cbr=3Ebar=3Ahttp=3A//news=2Ebbc=2Eco=2Euk/2/hi/middle=5Feast/2988455=2E=
stm=2E =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3ESir=2Cas military officers=2C we have no permission to be engage=
d in civil operations=2C based on that reason=2C we decided to contact y=
ou for assistance=2E This project is risk free as no body in the allied =
military high command knows about the container=2E =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3ERev=2EFrank Wills of missionary international assisted us to mov=
e the box out of Iraq through the missionary diplomatic service for safe=
keeping in a security firm=2E All we need to do now is change the depos=
it document to your name to enable you make the claim of the metal box c=
ontaining the fund=2C we have agreed to offer you =2535 for your assista=
nce=2E =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3EGet back to me if you=92re interested in helping us to move the =
fund of to your country=2E =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3EThanks=2C =
=3Cbr=3E
=3Cbr=3E=26nbsp=3B =
=3Cbr=3ESgt=2E Clark=2E
=3Cbr=3E =
=3Cbr=3E =
=3Cbr=3E=3Cbr=3E=3Cbr=3E
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Anti-fraud resources:
