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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "huge sum of money" (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)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- muhunaidil@mail.md (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Muhammad Junaidil" (may be fake)
Date: Sat, 9 Apr 2011 11:28:29 +0200
Subject: For your Consideration.
Attention Sir,
My name is Muhammad Junaidil a Libyan; i am in spain at the moment as a political refugee due to the recent problem in my country. I have a huge sum of Money deposited in an Offshore bank in Europe and I need your urgent assistance to quickly transfer this money from the present bank to another bank of your choice in your name to avoid any trace as regarding the source, it is the only thing left for me now and i wish to start a new life with it. This transaction demands immediate attention because of the present political situation in my country (Libya) and i do not want to lose this money to the european government nor the UN.
It is a Huge sum of money and i am ready to offer you 30% of the money to stand as the beneficiary and transfer it to a new bank account of your choice. I believe you can help me out but on the contrary please forgive my indulgence and delete this email without sharing the content with anybody.
This money rightfully belongs to me because it is my share from an Oil deal that was used to compensate for my Late father who died fighting for Muammar Al Ghaddafi and it could be confiscated by the european government. This is the only thing left for me to start up a new life and CHANGE my present situation. If you are interested and capable of handling this transaction for me in Honesty without betrayal of Trust that i shall repose on you then forward your response accordingly to my confidential email address below.
Email: muhunaidil@mail.md
Please note that this transaction is confidential and must be kept in top secret until we have finalized transfer to your designation.
Thank you very much for your understanding.
Thank you,
Muhammad Junaidil
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