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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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "MOUMUD SALEH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <moumudsaleh@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 21:29:04 +0700
Subject: REQUEST FOR PARTNERSHIP INVESTMENT
It is my pleasure to contact you today. My name is Moumud Saleh. I am a secret representative of late Mr. Saif al-Arab Gadhafi son of late Libyan leader (Moammar Gadhafi). I am his personal Legal aid on many dealings with all his international associate to protect my clients interest with the opposite parties, my late client had so many Crude Oil shipments from Libya to other country with one of his associates there for selling.
Furthermore After the shipments were offloaded a deal was struck and my client realized the sum US$350,000,000.00 cash for the supply and the funds are safely in the custody of an international organization which Saif Gadhfi is also a member. This happened before the untimely uprising in Libya, my client died in one of the Nato Air strikes in Libya and it was so unfortunate but I pray that his soul rest in peace while we alive live on. I want to present you to the organization as the beneficiary and partner to Saif al-Arab Gadhafi to stand and make the claim of my late client’s fund to enable them process and release the funds to you as an allied to Saif. We shall share in the ratio of 40/60 on confirmation of the funds in your custody.
If you are interested, get back to me with your full details andtelephone number to enable us discuss more better.
I wait to hear from you.
Regard,
Moumud Saleh
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Anti-fraud resources:
