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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.
- This email message is a orphan scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Mawa Mamba <mawamamba@outlook.fr>
Reply-To: Mawa Mamba <mawamamba77@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jun 2015 05:43:53 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Very Important Message:
Very Important
Message:
My name is Mawa
Mamba; I am the only child of late Mr and Mrs Richard Mamba. My father is a
well known business man who deals on gold and diamond in our country Ivory
Coast before his death. I prayed before contacting you and I
believed that you are the rightful person to help me out.
I need your
assistance in the transfer of my inherited money 3.4milion American dollars for
investment ventures under your care and directive, while I continue my
education in your country after the transfer.
It is my desire to
come over to your country to further my education while you invest and manage
my inherited money. Please I am an orphan and I need your assistance to
transfer my inherited money to your country and also your assistance to secure
a nice school for me in your country, where I will continue my education.
I am willing to
compensate you with 15%. I shall be pleased to have your personal phone
number where I can personally contact you.
Please I am
waiting for your immediate response.
Thanks and may God
bless you.
Yours sincerely,
Mawa Mamba
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Anti-fraud resources:
