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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:
- "million 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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: BERNARD OTTI <ottibenardx2@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bernardotti66@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 19 Aug 2015 02:56:29 +1200
Subject: I NEED YOUR CONSENT
From: Mr Bernard Otti
Dear sir
I am Mr Bernard Otti,the immediate past group deputy managing director finance and account The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation(NNPC) .There is $25 million dollars in the account of my corporation which we want to transfer to a reliable account.
This $25 million is in the account of my department for some time now which represents the surplus of an over valued contract executed for the corporation some years back. I am seeking if you will permit the money to be remitted into your personal/company account so that the money remitted will be shared among the parties concerned.
This transaction must be kept confidential in order to protect the confidence reposed in the officials involved in this transaction.We have agreed in principle that 80% of the money goes to the officials where the money originated while 20% to the owner of the account. I wish to inform you that this transaction requires urgent reply to enable us conclude the transaction soonest.
Immediately you indicate interest via my email i will forward to you further procedures of the conclusion of the transaction.
Best regards
Mr Bernard Otti
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Anti-fraud resources:
