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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Oronto Douglas Jr." <orontod86@gmail.com>
Reply-To: oronto_douglas@yahoo.com
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2015 13:01:47 -0700
Subject: Confidential Content
Dear Sir,
I'm the son of Dr. Oronto Douglas the Special Adviser to the former President Goodluck Jonathan on Research, Strategy and Documentation. He suffered from a protracted cancer, and this is the first assignment he said that I should do after his death.
He said I should look for a mentor that can help me receive and manage funds he deposited in a Trust for my taking pleasure. But I'm not old enough and needed a matured business minded person to manage the fund on my behalf for a period of time.
My father was an environmental activist on behalf of the oil-producing communities of the Niger Delta and a Patron of the Nigerian entertainment industry. He has brokered most of the meetings between the Actors Guild of Nigeria and the presidency during his time.
I hope this letter meets you in good time!
Best regards,
Oronto Douglas Jr.
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Anti-fraud resources:
