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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Abdou Karamoh <abdoukaramoh@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: abdou.karamoh19@qq.com
Date: Sat, 15 Feb 2014 17:20:05 +0000
Subject: Re:- Hello
--
Good day and peace be with you,
I want you to know that i do not know how to write russian language,
so i use google to translate so you can understand my proposal to you,
so i attached it to this email.
I am Abdou Karamoh 17 years old boy from Sierra Leone,i am writing you
from refuge camp in republic of Cote d'Ivoire where i have been taking
as refuge after the brutal murder of my parents during the war crisis
in my country.
It is Because of the war my father sold half of his property and
deposited the total sum in a finance firm here in Ivory Coast.please
i want to leave here,i am seeking for your urgent assistance to help
me transfer this funds out of here to your country for good investment
project so that i can relocate to your country to further my
education and adopt me as your son
Best regards.
Abdou Karamoh
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Anti-fraud resources:
