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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Billy Dario Rogers" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <billydariorogerz@yahoo.it>
Date: Fri, 11 Jul 2014 14:35:01 +0200
Subject: VITAL BUSINESS
Dear Friend,
Kindly consider this e-mail as an invitation to be our partner in a multi-million U.S Dollars business proposal which will be of mutual benefit to all of us.
I am a Italian citizen working as a director in a Uni-Credit Bank here in Italy and my partner and I have discovered large sum of money which has been in
a dormant account and upon our investigation the owner of the funds is dead and he died intestate {without} a will,our board of Directors has mandated us to
commence the procedures of paying the money to the deceased legal next of kin,thus we are inviting you to come on board and let us work together to make this
business a resounding success.
We shall use our high offices to ensure that this money is paid to your designated bank account as the legal next-of-kin of the deceased,
since we shall procure all legal documents in your name and favour. This business offer is a deal, but it is legal and you are required to keep
it secret and highly confidential.
It is also economically viable and financially profitable. Full details of this business and my person/modalities will be disclosed on your expression of interest
to partner with us and we are open for further negotiation, as i awaits your positive reply now.
Thanks.
Mr.Billy Dario Rogers
A Director Uni-Credit Bank
Italy.
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Anti-fraud resources:
