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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Donald Clark <ma-suessmann@t-online.de>
Reply-To: donald.clark42@aol.com
Date: Thu, 06 Aug 2015 14:39:08 +0100
Subject: Tr: Clean Bill-Certification Clearance
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Attn: The Confirmed Beneficiary.
I tender apology if in any case you find my good heart to help you on your pending wire transfer not worthy, it is better you trash this mail because of the position I occupy here in my office.
I already know you must have been deceived and frustrated in the cause of getting this fund transferred to your account.
As a newly promoted staff in one of the regional offices of the World Bank, I discovered your Transfer file was abandoned in the cause of going through some of the yet to publish transfer files in my new office.
I came to know that you are one of the foreigners being frustrated and abandoned by some Senior Executives in the Bank.
Your payment file has been long confirmed for payment, but the people you have been working with are pursuing their selfish interest with the collaboration of the Senior Executives. This I can assure you will make it practically impossible for the funds to be transferred to your account.
What gave me courage in contacting you is the way these Senior Executives are keeping other junior staffs blind from the truth by using your fund for international Stock-Market trade and making huge interest to their personal account. They use delay tactics to hold onto the fund by coming up with one excuse or the other.
Beneficiaries have been frustrated and some don’t even know of this payment approval or have not been informed on the condition of their payments.
I can only intercede on your file based on your permission; the truth is that I want to help you get your funds released to you within 14 days if you can try my professional capability and promise to keep this a top secret.
The people you thought were working for you might not allow you to believe my proposal; but there is no harm in trial; hence you have toiled around without success with those unscrupulous gangs.
If in any way you decide to be wise in trying my effort, reply to this mail, but you have to bear in mind that the process of transferring this fund successfully requires only a mandatory legal payment of Euro 570.
This will be paid to the Accountant Generals offices to secure both the Clean Bill-Certification Clearance on the fund; and obtain International Wire Transfer Permit Clearance to apply for your transfer approval release through the Ministry of Finance
Regards,
Mr. Donald Clark.
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