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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:
- "million 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)
- "power of attorney" (with your bank details and a power of attorney form criminals sometimes empty bank accounts)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: Mr.Ahmed Abdoul Haziz <mr.ahmed.abdoulh13@msn.com>
Reply-To: <ahmed.ahaziz@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 10:17:54 +0000
Subject: How are you?
My Dear,
Good Day and How are you today and your family? . My dear I hope you are very much aware of the situation in libya I am Mr.Ahmed Abdoul Haziz a personal assistant to (Dr Shokri Ghanem) the Libyan National Oil Company’s procurement manager in the whole Africa. Please note that I have contacted you in good faith and the proposal is for the benefit of the both of us because the current situation in my country right now.
Based on the looming war in my country now, i have decided to contact you for this urgent business opportunity and relationship. I want to inform you that I have in my possession the sum of USD 6.5 Million Dollars.
I want to invest the money in a good business of your choice in your country. I am solely interested in making a life for my son and therefore I shall require the service of a person who is trustworthy and sincere and i am going to make you the beneficiary of the money and allowing you to invest for my son in the event anything happens to me here. So I have a 100% authentic means of transferring the money to your country as soon as I hear from you.
I contacted you after many thoughts. Our operation here is getting tough and anything can happen to me. This is the reason i made up my mind to locate somebody abroad whom i can establish a business relationship. I shall establish a memorandum of understanding with you and give you the power of attorney to represent my interest.
I need the following from you as soon as possible.
1.Your direct phone number
2 Your Full Names and address
3 Your occupation
If you are interested, then let me know so we can proceed as time is very important to me. I wait for your contact details so we can go into action. In less than seven working days, the money should have been in your position. I will give to you 30% of the sum and 70% is for my investment interest because I know that nothing goes for nothing,
I hope I am been fair to you for your assistance as my receiving partner. I will send you more information as soon as I hear from you and I thank God that I have managed to move the fund out of my country Libya at the moment i have lost my wife in this crises and my son who is currently in Ghana West Africa will be waiting to hear from you once you get back to me
Kind regards,
Mr. Ahmed Abdoul Haziz
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