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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "GATE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <d.gate1998@yandex.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Apr 2016 17:43:24 -0700
Subject: URGENT RESPONSES REQUIRED.
Dear,
My name is Mr. Sambo Dasuki, I am a retired army colonel and the former National Security Adviser (NSA) to the immediate past president of my country
Dr. Goodluk Jonathan. I am aware of the unsafe nature of the internet but due to the prevailing circumstances I don’t have any other option than to
communicate you through this medium. I am writing you this letter with all hope and courage from the Almighty that you will be able to help my family
and meddling this hour of need and persecution. The money I want to invest ($6.5M) was acquired from the part of the funds structured to my office by the
past government for the purchase of arms and other security devices but unfortunately there was a change in government and i have the major part of these
funds already deposited in a safe vault outside my country and nobody knows about this. If only you can accept to partner with me in this venture and use
the funds for investments purposes in your country until i shall be very free to come over to meet you.
I can let you part with 35% of the total sum and rest 65% you will keep for me and my family prior to when i shall be free to come over to your country as
i am still under serious survillance. I have secretly made good arrangements to have this amount released to you if you accept to partner with me as my
business associate/partner, there are back-up documents i can issue to you.
I want to assure you that this transaction is 100% risk free as i have already worked out all modalities to a successful conclusion of this transaction,
so if this intrests you then you can get back to me with your full contact information;your full names,phone number and current address. I will furnish you with further information once i get a positive
response from you.
Thanks and Regards,
S. Dasuki
NSA
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Anti-fraud resources:
