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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:
- ",000,000" (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)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "From:Ubah Peter" <ubah_peter@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: ubah553@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Sun, 11 Dec 2011 12:53:13 -0000 (GMT)
Subject: Dear Respectful One.
Dear Respectful One.
My name is Ubah Peter i am 22 years old from liberia. Please go through below my
mail to see if you can assist for our mutual benefit.My late father was a cocoa
and gold business man.He died in a motor accident with my mother one week after
his trip to Abidjan Cote d' Ivoire to negotiate on a cocoa business he wanted to
invest in.
My mother died instantly and my father followed up five days after in the
hospital.May there soul rest in perfect peace.Before the death of my father, he
disclosed to me about sum of ($9.5,000,000USD) Nine Million Five Hundred
Thousands United States Dollars he deposited in a bank in Cote d' Ivoire for the
investment with my name as next of kin.
I am a novice in terms of business and can not be able to handle investment of
the money by my self and do not want to involve my relatives as instructed by my
late father.I solicit for your assistance to guard me invest the money as
partners under your care.
If we happen to do this together, before any thing is done with the money, I
will give you 10% of the total money as compensation for your assistance.I look
forward to hearing from you for more details if you are willing are able to
handle this.
Best regards.
Ubah Peter.
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