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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:
- "abidjan" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Goodluck Solomon" <abdoukaramoh@rocketmail.com>
Reply-To: goodlucksolomon@ymail.com
Date: Thu, 3 Jul 2014 09:43:23 +0100
Subject: Re:- Good Morning from Bash
I am the manager of Accounts/Operations Department of our bank here in
Abidjan Cote D'Ivoire. I need your assistance to exhibit a business
transaction with me. All I require is your honest cooperation to enable us
see this deal through I guarantee that this will be executed under all
legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any breach of the law.
If you can handle this with me, then email for more details
Thanking you for your anticipated cooperation
Goodluck Solomon
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Anti-fraud resources:
