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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "mariam abacha" (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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mabacha86@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "MARIAM ABACHA" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mabacha86@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Aug 2016 16:40:23 +0100
Subject: URGENT RESPONSE
Dear Sir/ Madam,
My Name is Mariam Abacha, the long surviving wife of the late former head of states in the military regime of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
I wish to sincerely ask for your assistance in securing a part of the remaining amount of money that was left for me and my children by my late husband.
I am getting very old and my children will need these funds when i am gone but because of the current administration and leadership in my country, my children may not be free to claim the funds so we have all decided to look for a foreigner who has no ties with us and is not related with us in any way to help us secure the funds and when that is succesful done, one of my workers will come and meet with your for disbursement and sharing of the funds.
The money is a sum of us$56 million and its presently safe some were i will disclose to you on your acceptance to assit in moving and securing the fund.
I will give you more details upon your response and acceptance and i will let you know how we will go about it.
The most important thing now is to have mercy on a poor widow like me and see reasons to help me and God will surely bless you and offcourse you will be adequately compesated with a certain percentage of the funds.
Thanks and i wait to hear from you soon,
Mariam Abacha
Please reply to my personal email adress mabacha86@yahoo.com
Thanks.
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