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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:
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Sara Khosravi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sara.khosravi@asia.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Apr 2017 00:10:15 -0500
Subject: I need your help
My name is Sara Khosravi wife to late Mahafarid Amir Khosravi a Business Tycoon from Iran. I need your help in the collection of the sum $24,178,200 Million United Dollars of my late husband wealth deposited in financial institution in Belgium which I will give you full details information about all you need to know and documents upon your acceptance to help me invest on behalf of me and only daughter.
The reason i have contacted you is that i have being contacted by an insider of the Bank that they want to make their annual Audit financial Account report and that any dormant Account will be confiscated by the Bank, that is the reason I need your assistance in transferring these fund to you for onward investment in your country since I will be here in Iran for a very long time. And also my movement has being restricted and I cannot travel to collect the funds myself due to the fact that my passports and my traveling documents have been seized and also all my husband assets have being frozen and confiscated here in Iran by the present day government. Please go through the link below you will understand much better and know my Predicament:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10949905/Mahafarid-Amir-Khosravi-obituary.html
I know you are a trust worthy person and also with your reputation I know it will be easy for you to help. As soon as I hear from you upon your acceptance, I will give you the full details information about everything you need to know about the funds and every document that will assist you as a proof so that you can either travel there personally to collect the funds or ask for the funds to be transferred to you whichever way that is more preferable to you. I will want the funds to be invested by you on my behalf pending when the heat will cool down and I will be able to travel out of the country and meet with you. Please I need your help and also need you to get back to me as soon as possible if you are ready and willing in your heart to help in the investment of remaining my late husband’s fund I do not have anyone else apart from your contact I got through my late husband personal things I was going through which I believe you might have met or known each other because when he was alive he use to travel a
I will need you forward to me your full contact detail information upon acceptance so that I forward it to the Bank for further correspondence. Hope to hear from you soon
Yours sincerely
Sara Khosravi
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