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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "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)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Daudu J.Cole" <daudujohnsoncole@presidency.com>
Reply-To: daudujohnsoncole@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 22 Jun 2018 04:35:14 -0700
Subject: Re: Can You Handle This Investment
Dear Sir/Madam,
Please consider this message serious and urgent.
I am from Equatorial Guinea Central Africa and I worked as a personal conf=
idant to the
longtime leader Yahya Jammeh who is currently on political exile in my coun=
try Equatorial Guinea.
My motive of contacting you is to seek your partnership to invest funds in=
total of Thirty Million United states dollars,
on any profitable business or valuable projects .
I am presently in Abu Dhabi( UAE ) and you are welcome to have a meeting w=
ith me in order to discuss further details on this matter
or you can simply send a mail to my private email box : daudujohnsoncole at=
gmail dot com if you are willing to proceed.
I will appreciate a positive and swift response from you.
Thank you.
Best Regards,
Dr. D.J Cole
Equatorial Guinea Central Africa
=
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Anti-fraud resources:
