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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 us 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)
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Felix & Flora" <felixkonte@yahoo.fr>
Reply-To: felixkonte01@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 03:50:34 +0600
Subject: Investment Assistance..
Dear please, may you receive this letter with peace of mind and respect as
it may be very strange to you since we have not communicated or know each
other before, I and my junior sister were victims of war from Cote
d`Ivoire, our later father was killed by rebels last March during the
recent war in Abidjan city and we lost our beloved mother 6 years ago for
breast cancer after painful surgery. Our father was the former Director,
Board of Internal Revenue Auditors and a senior party member of the former
President L. Gbagbo who was forcefully removed from power by France Army.
Please we are seeking for your kind assistance to help us to move the sum
of 5.4 million US dollars we inherited from our late father`s account and
to help us to come to your country after the transfer so that you will
help us to invest and manage it on our behalf because we do not have any
business experience before to manage the money. I am 22 yrs old and my
junior sister is 20 yrs old. We will appreciate to receive your urgent
useful reply as soon as you receive this message with your private phone
number so that we can call to talk with you.
Please reply us back immediately.
Best regards,
Felix & Flora
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Anti-fraud resources:
