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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)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "unitedcourierlimited@aol.de" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: "Barrister Faith Okoye" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <unitedcourierlimited@aol.de>
Date: Mon, 13 Jan 2014 21:04:01 -0800
Subject: BE THE NEXT OF KIN
Attention:
Compliment of the day to you, I sent you a mail a couple of days ago about a transaction and haven’t heard
from you since then. The message was to solicit your partnership to inherit the sum of (7 million US dollars)
since you bear the same surname with my late client.(Patrick Abbott).
I shall send you more information and procedures when I receive a positive response from you with below
information needed to proceed with your name as the next of kin to the decease.
1. Fall Name........................
2. Address: .......................
3. Your direct telephone number
4. Your Age..............
Send the above information to my email: unitedcourierlimited@aol.de
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Barrister Faith Okoye
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Anti-fraud resources:
