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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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "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)
- "can i trust you?" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield" <deputy_gov1@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <major_general@live.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Feb 2014 04:56:25 +0100
Subject: Getback to me
Please Can I trust you as a life business partner?
First of all let me introduce myself,my name is Major General Anthony Crutchfield, the former Commander of the first infantry division in Libya (C.F.L) and currently serving in a war camp in Libya on a peace keeping mission. During my search in(http://www.linkedin.com)I came across your name and your profile because of this reason I believed that you are the right person to deal with. I feel quite secure dealing with you in this important transaction. Although this medium (Internet) has been widely abused, I decided to reach you through it because it still remains the fastest medium of interaction.I seek for your assistance to help secure $49 million US dollars I acquired through oil transaction which we did with Libya oil Business men and their Japanese buyers.
I package all the money inside a trunk box and sent it out of Libya through assistance of a UN agent and I need a good partner who I can trust to assist me in receiving the Money on my behalf and I have confidence and hope that you will not disappoint me or betray me.The most important thing is ''' Can I Trust You? I need your honesty and faithfulness and I promise that you will not regret to assist me. I will entitle you 30% of the entire money for your assistance after releasing the fund. I just want you to find a safe place where you can keep this fund until I meet you and we will plan how to invest the fund. I just want you to keep this transaction secret between me and you because I don’t want to lose my fund. I hope you will not disappoint me or betray me?
The whole process is expected to last two weeks to get the funds out successfully without troubles. I ‘m expecting you to indicate your interest to secure this fund, after which I will compensate you with 30% as said earlier of the total fund for your effort.When the fund has been secured, then we will arrange for my coming over to your country . I will furnish you with the whole procedure to ensure 100% risk free. Please respond quickly to enable us set the transaction on motion.
I am looking forward to read from you immediately.
My Regards,
Maj. Gen. Anthony Crutchfield
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Anti-fraud resources:
