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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mark Williams <markwill470@gmail.com>
Reply-To: markwill470@hotmail.com
Date: Mon, 09 Mar 2015 20:36:24 +0800
Subject: very urgent notification
Sir/Madam,
My name is Orobi Mark Williams i represent the interest of the
Governor in one of
the Oil producing States here in Nigeria. I don't want to disclose the
State here in the
Internet for Security reasons.
My Principal has mandated me to contact a capable associate to handle
some urgent
investment. Due to the present political climate in Nigeria and with
the elections
around the corner, it is evident that there will be a lot of witch
hunting after the
elections as a lot of people feel that he has stepped on their toes in
the staunch
defence of his party's interests and have cooked up several false
allegations against
him such as using state funds to sponsor party activities.
He is one of the targets of a huge witch hunt which will commence
after the election
hence he is seeking a capable foreign partner to handle urgent
investments in a
conducive country .
If you are interested and capable of handling this, kindly revert and
we will have a
brief meeting in any country and location of your choice to discuss terms.
I await your urgent reply
Orobi Mark Williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
