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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:
- "mr.carlosvilanova@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: "Mr. Carlos Vila Nova" <carlousv@saotome.gov.org>
Reply-To: mr.carlosvila@c2.hu
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2011 16:54:52 +0300 (EAT)
Subject: AM CONTACTING YOU IN GOOD FAITH
--
Hello,
I am contacting you in good faith and this information will be of mutual
benefit to both of us .My intent of contacting you is based on the offer
on ground.
The National petroleum agency of Sao Tome is granting a Crude Oil
sales/distribution
license for 24 million barrels of crude oil per annum to a competent
company. The license has an operating duration of 5 years and 24 million
barrel quota per annum. I am in a position to influence the award of this
license that will protect my interest. Hence i am proposing a 50/50
partnership.
I am well acquainted with the operations of such a license and the
industry in general.
However, we shall be entitled to a commission of $2 on each barrel sold
from the license's allocation. We can still make additional
income/commission from negotiations with the buyers group.
Regards
Carlos Vila Nova
Email:mr.carlosvilanova@yahoo.cn
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Anti-fraud resources:
