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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: Stanly Kone." <stanlykone12@hotmail.fr>
Reply-To: kone.stanly@yahoo.com.vn
Date: Thu, 24 Jan 2013 20:49:20 +0500 (TJT)
Subject: Dear respectful one
Dear respectful one
My name is stanley kone 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
$7.5,000,000USD) seven 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.
stanley kone.
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Anti-fraud resources:
