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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:
- "i will like you to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states 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)
- "await your urgent response" (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: Moha <muhagada@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 8 Jun 2015 13:24:10 +0100
Subject: personal
Kind Attention: I do not want to waste your precious time nor mine so I must go straight to the point and tell the reason why I am contacting you through this channel, and I will make this letter as short as possible. I am Muhammad Gaddafi, the eldest son of late Libyan Leader Muammar Gaddafi, the reason why I am contacting you now knowing that you are a total stranger to me is because there is no other close person around me I can trust because all the people close to me are all being watched 24 hours, my younger brother Saif has been captured and I am the only surviving member of my immediate family who is not in custody. I was captured by the rebels sometime ago but somehow managed to escape and since then I have been in hiding. The major point of contacting you is that I have the sum of 800 million United States dollars that I want to move into safety and I will like you to safe-guard this
money for me. I will give more details when you indicate your genuine interest to receive and safe-guard this funds for me. And for your participation I will offer you ten percent of the total sum. Please if in any way this proposal offends your personal morals I implore you to delete this message and never reveal its contents to any third party. I await your urgent response. Muhammad Gaddafi
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Anti-fraud resources:
