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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "economic and financial crime commission" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: louis martins okoye <martinsnjoku.ng@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 10 Oct 2014 20:39:40 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Office of His Excellency
Good day,
My name is Mr.Martins Njoku a special adviser to the Governor in one of the big Oil producing State here in Nigeria. I dont want to disclose the State here in the Internet for Security reasons.Â
My Boss mandated me to contact who ever is capable to handle this project, he really wants to invest outside Nigeria for security reason and for the future of his family because of crisis in Nigeria today. He is facing a big problem here in Nigeria with Economic and Financial Crime Commission(EFCC),they are only waiting for him to step down so that they can probe him. If he can be able to invest outside the country as soon as possible, this will give him chances of winning his case with Economic and Financial Crime Commission (EFCC).Â
We need urgent attention if you are interested to do this business with us. And i really want to know where we can meet any Country of your choice for us to have a concrete agreement of this Investment. Please i dont need anybody who will betray the trust my Boss have for me in life.
I await your urgent replyÂ
Mr.Martins NjokuSpecial Adviser to the Governor
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Anti-fraud resources:
