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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:
- "huge sum of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "00,000.00" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "very confidential" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- "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.
- 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.
- nnpc651@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr Christopher James" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nnpc651@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 19 Nov 2017 19:48:44 +0100
Subject: RE: Greetings
Dear Sir/Ma
I Am Dr Christopher James, an
Accountant with the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation
(N.N.P.C.). I Headed A Seven-Man Tenders Board In Charge Of
Contract Awards And Payment Approvals. I Came to Know of You
in My Search for A Reliable and Reputable Person to Handle a
Very confidential Transaction Which Involves the Transfer of
a Huge Sum of Money to a Foreign Account. There Were Series
Of Contracts Executed By A Consortium Of Mufti-Nationals In
The Oil Industry In Favor Of N.N.P.C.The Original Value Of
This Contracts Were Deliberately Over-Invoiced To The Sum Of
USD$17,000,000.00 (Seventeen Million United States Dollars)
this Amount Has Been Approved And Is Now Ready To Be
Transfer within 7 Working Days Subject to your quick
response.
Our Assurance Is That Your Role Is Risk
Free. To Accord This Transaction the Legality It Deserves
And For Mutual Security Of The Funds The Whole Approval
Procedures Will Be Officially And Legally Processed With
Your Name Or The Name Of Any Company You May Nominate As The
Beneficiary. Once More, I Want You To Understand That Having
Put In Over Ten Years In The Civil Service of My Country, I
Am Averse To Having My Image And Career Dented. This Matter
Should Therefore Be Treated With The Utmost Secrecy And
Urgency It Deserves. Kindly Expedite Action As We Are Behind
Schedule To Enable Us Include This Transfer In This Batch
Which Would Constitute The first Quarter Payments For The
2017 Financial Year. Once again rest assured that this
business is 100% Risk free and you can ask any question for my urgent clarifications.
Possible for More Details send your
reply Via email; nnpc651@gmail.com
Thanks
Yours Sincerely
Dr Christopher James
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Anti-fraud resources:
