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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)
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "mrs.flora zogo" <mrs.florazogo2@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.florazogo1@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 09:17:32 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: Hello Friend
ATTENTION:
I received encouraging information about you and how trusts worthy you are. I am delighted with such useful information. My name is Mrs Flora Zogo I am the manager of auditing and accounting department of BANK OF AFRICA (B.O.A) here in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
In my department i discovered an abandoned sum US$5.5 million us dollars) in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customer who died along with his entire family on July 2003 in a plane crash. Since we got information about his death, we have been expecting his next of kin to come over and claim his money because we can not release it unless some body applies for it as next of kin or relation to the deceased.
Unfortunately we learnt that all his supposed next of kin or relation died alongside with him at the plane crash leaving nobody behind for the claim. It is therefore upon this discovery that I now decided to make this business proposal to you, so that the money can be release to your account as the next of kin. And I agreed to offer you 30% of this money as my foreign partner after confirmation of the fund in your bank account.You should contact me immediately as soon as you receive this letter.
Trusting to hear from you immediately.
Yours Sincerely,
Mrs Flora Zogo
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Anti-fraud resources:
