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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mell00mac@yahoo.co.jp (Yahoo, Japan; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Victor Usman Yusufu" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mell00mac@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 17:08:30 -0500
Subject: Indicate Interest
Fraternal Greetings,
My name is Victor Usman Yusufu,son to Mr. John Yakubu Yusufu,the Chief Accountant of the Nigerian Police
Pension Office.who was an accountant and the former assistant director in the Police Pension office,was
accused of misappropriating the sum of N20.154B. He was accused of pilfering the sum of N1.3B and
N1.7B.
Firstly, it is important that you understand why I am contacting you. I intend for us to carry out a transaction
to our mutual benefit.I am in possession of$12.5M belonging to him and this fund is presently deposited in a
facility overseas and I have the documents.I would like to hold back some information for security reasons
for now until you respond to me.
Best Regards
Victor Usman Yusufu
Tel: +234-1-212-0734
Email:mell00mac@yahoo.co.jp
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Anti-fraud resources:
