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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:
- "inheritance funds" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "lawyerchriscoolman@w.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: "john mba" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lawyerchriscoolman@w.cn>
Date: Mon, 23 Apr 2012 19:03:41 -0700
Subject: He will send you the payment ASAP
Dear colleague
The fund transfer had been a SUCCESS and I pressurized the influential woman to concede some amount as COMPENSATION to you for your efforts. You already know that the other co investor that approved the fund Alvin peter Kappelmann Jr died DURING the sept 11 attack mishap that killed thousands of people at the world trade center in the incidence which the international media broadcast it that warranted this payment as i believe you know. pls log in to http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/memorial/people/2632.html to see the CNN report of the incidence and the confirmation of mr peters death.
There fore your over due inheritance funds totalling $800,000 [thousand united states dollars} has been approved and ractified by chrome oil board company last week.
Because of my sudden appointment in South Korea I then handed your fund and instruct the chrome oil secretary chris coolman to send you the fund asap and his mail:(lawyerchriscoolman@w.cn)
The chrome oil Secretary is very much informed by me about you and I instructed him to transfer over the the fund to you without you paying a dime as soon as you contact him.
I gave him the CODE 555, which you have to mention for identification.
Yours Sincerely and associate,
Mr.John Mba chiarman
chiarman chrome oil
middle east and london
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Anti-fraud resources:
