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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Senator David Mark"<info@code.org>
Reply-To: private.message2017@yandex.ru
Date: 05 Jan 2018 19:31:57 -0800
Subject: Retirement Plan.
Dear Confidant,
I hope my email finds you in a good spirit this new year. I do
not presume to know you but I strongly believe we could be of
immense use to each other. I found your contact during my search
for a credible person whom can help me in my quest to move some
money away to a foreign country. This is my retirement package
and I need someone not directly known or linked to me to help me
with this project.
Let me introduce myself, I am Senator David Mark, the former
Senate President of Nigeria. I trust that you will keep
everything I divulge to you under strict confidentiality. In the
light of the many scams emanating from my country, I urge you to
give me a benefit of doubt and work with me in your honest
capacity to receive the transfer of $12.8million into your
custody under the guise of a valid contract payment owed to you
by my country so that the money is transferred to you as a
contractor and beneficiary with my country.
I have a perfect plan on how we can carry this out under 3 weeks
if you can give me your full support and co-operation. For your
efforts I am willing to give you 30% of the contract payment sum.
I will be ready to discuss more on your role and procedure for
this business when I receive your return email with your consent
to work with me in truth and honesty. I want to assure you that
this project is very feasible and I promise to deliver on it. I
hope we can discuss more on this matter soon as time is very
essential and we need to act fast. Please get back to me.
David.
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Anti-fraud resources:
