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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:
- "central bank of nigeria" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Buhari" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alhajimuhammedbuhar@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2016 05:32:33 -0800
Subject: From Nigeria president Buhari Mohammadu
Sir/Madam
I hope this messages gets to you in a good fate,As part of my promise to eradicate corruption here in Nigeria and the World at large,I wish to bring to you an emergency note with the LETTER OF REJECT OF FUNDS considering your inability to fulfill the obligations to enable you secure your compensation payment.
We therefore plead with you to print and fill the form attached and send back to us before the next 48 banking hours to be inline with our dead line.
You may wonder why a president is contacting you all by himself, but never to worry It is part of my campaign promise to fight corruption and I must do that with all cost.
If you go through the Nigerian National Daily news papers, you may see that I have chosen to also take the office of the Nigeria National Petroleum Cooperation (NNPC) because there are so many corrupt officers in that department and the same goes to the Central Bank Of Nigeria and the Ministry of finance.
I will therefore plead with you to do what is right this time so that your funds can get to you without any more delay hence it is my promise to bring back the good name Nigeria has in the past.
May Almighty Allah Bless us.
Yours in Service.
Alhaji Buhari Mohammadu.
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Anti-fraud resources:
