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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:
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: George Raoul <georgeraoul101@gmail.com>
Reply-To: George Raoul <georgeraoul2@hotmail.com>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2015 14:47:12 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hello !!
 Dearest,
May the peace of God be with you.
I am George the only son of Dr.James Raoul, I am writing you from Rep of Cote d' Ivoire where I have been taking refuge after the brutal war and Murder of my parents by the rebels during the war in my country.
I know my message will come as a surprise to you, please do not misunderstand me since we have not meet each other before,I am begging you to accept me with an opening heart,
it is the situation I found myself that made me to contact you for your assistance.
Because of the war my late father sold his company and deposited this money in one of the bank here ($10.5 Million US Dollars. After my fasting and prayer God directed me to contact you for your help to transfer this my Inheritance Money into your account for investment until i finish my school. Please
I need your help to transfer this money out from here before it get into the hand of some corrupt government official here.I want to investing this money in your country under your Management and control while I continue my education. Many thanks to you if you can help me as I would compensate you with a good percentage. For more details reply immediately.
Hope to read from you.
George
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Anti-fraud resources:
