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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +22547225524 (Cote d'Ivoire, probably a prepaid mobile phone)
Fraud email example:
From: Mr Maher Akoula <al_ken01@voila.fr>
Reply-To: aloakoula@yahoo.fr
Date: Tue, 11 Jun 2013 06:03:07 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: IMPORTANT INFORMATION,
Dear Friend,
This message might meet you in utmost surprise; however, itâs just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me to contact you for this transaction. I am a banker by profession from Côte d'Ivoire in West Africa and currently holding the post of Director Auditing and Accounting unit of the bank.
I have the opportunity of transferring the left over funds ($7.200.000 Million) of one of my bank clients who died along with his entire family on 31 July 2000 in a plane crash. You can confirm the genuiness of the deceased death by clicking on this web sitehttp://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/859479.stm
Hence, I am inviting you for a business deal where this money can be shared between us in the ratio of 60/40. Send your private phone number to call you, If you agree to my business proposal. Further details of the transfer will be forwarded to you as soon as i receive your return mail. Have a great day.
Your Faithfully
Mr Maher Akoula
Age: 48 years.
Home Address: 10-12/avenue.Kanazoe.
B:P 1508-Côte d'Ivoire
+225 4722 55 24
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Anti-fraud resources: