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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Bongani Godwin <godwinbongani@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Nov 2016 09:50:51 +0200
Subject: Re: Mr B.Godwin
Dear
I know my proposal will come to you as a surprise since we did not know
each other neither have we had any previous business relationship. I am a
financial adviser with one of the private banking sector United Kingdom.
To go straight to the point, my reason of contacting you after I go through
your profile is to introduce some business opportunity to you. I had sum
magnitude amount of funds in my department which belong to one of our
deceased client who lost his life in a car accident along with his wife and
two children years ago.
Since we receive the news of his death, there is no one who has come front
as his next of kin to lay a claim to his estate. As a matter of fact I and
my colleague have been working toward on whom we can front to claim the
funds as his next of kin since we cannot claim the funds with our local
account. As I was browsing in the internet I decided to contact you to
introduce the transaction to you if only you will be interested.
As soon as you indicate your interest, I will let you know the arrangement
so far on how we can achieve the success of the transaction.
My very best regards,
Mr B.Godwin
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Anti-fraud resources:
