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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:
- "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: david smith <davidsmith546@msn.com>
Reply-To: <davidsmith7725@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 24 May 2012 00:10:17 +0000
Subject: URGENT INVESTMENT ASSISTANCE
URGENT INVESTMENT ASSISTANCE
Abidjan Cote d'Ivoire
For proper Verification here is my contact number. +22544242667
My Dear,
I hope my mail find you in good health condition? If so thanks to almighty God. I am David Smith Marume the Son of the late assassinated senator in Zimbabwe Smith Marume I am new with internet and feel very reluctant to finding my rightful partner for this help I needed especially through the internet but the lord has revealed to me that you will be a God sent to help me in this favor, so I decided to give it a try to contact you. Let me tell you a little about myself and why I contacted you. I am an orphan, meaning I don't have both parents any more their death has really caused me lot of sorrow because the death circumstances was trace back to the government of my country because of his support for the opposition party with his wealth. It is such a long story which I will explain further to you later. When my father was at the hospital, he gave me a document of (US$10.5M) he deposited with one of the prime bank basd here in Cote d'Ivoire for investment purpose in Europe which he was unable
to accomplish before his death. He gave me this document because he made my name as the next of kin to the deposit and he instructed me to hide away from his family members because they are looking for the document of that deposit and that is why they formed together to kill him with his business associates and the government. And now they have taken over my entire father's estate and share it all so my life is now in danger because they know about the document I have with me so now I run away from them to a secret location to find help.I want you to help me in this way:
1. I will introduce you to the bank basd here in Cote d'Ivoire as my partner and i want my inherited deposit money to be transfer to your care.
2. I will send you all the deposit details and contact of the bank and you will call them on my behalf for the transfer to you.
3. Once it is transferred to you, you will send me little amount from the money to arrange my travel to meet you.
4. You will be my partner and guidance to find a good investment with the money.
5. I will offer you 30% of the total money as compensation for your effort and assistance and 5% for your expenses once the money is transferred to
you.Once I get your reply I will write you more steps to take and I can transfer my inheritance to you and travel to meet you for joint work and
partnership. I will give you some compensation from this money but I want us to have more truthful relationship than this money alone.
Note: I count on your honesty for this transfer
David Smith
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