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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:
- "account opening" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "account opening form" (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: =?UTF-8?b?R8O2eWfDtmwgUmF5b24gTcmZcmvJmXppIFjJmXN0yZl4YW5h?=
<andrewgaudel123@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 27 Apr 2019 10:37:46 +0400
Subject: Abandoned Fund
Abandoned Bank Account: Invitation to Claim
I faithfully and confidentially request for your collaboration with me to claim the sum of US$3,750,000 (Three Million Seven Hundred and Fifty Thousand United States Dollars only) discovered in a dormant and abandoned bank account in our bank. I am an Audit staff responsible for audit of active and dormant bank accounts.
The Account Holder have not operated the said account in the last 7 years and therefore is classified as "dormant and abandoned." All efforts by our bank to locate him or any of his family members have failed. Worst of it is that the Account Opening Form does not bear any known "Next of Kin." This lacuna has made it possible for anyone to claim the money as the next of kin of the original account holder.
This is why am contacting you to collaborate with me and present yourself as the "Next of Kin" of the account so that you can apply to our bank to release the money to you. If you accept to work with me in this risk-free deal and we succeed as we would succeed anyway, we would share the money equally and set up another one since there are several abandoned and dormant bank accounts containing considerable sums of money.
The process of having our bank to pay you the money is simple - you simply send notification of your intention to claim money left in the bank account of your brother as his next of kin. Our bank sends you a form to fill and return for processing. Once this is done, the money would be wire transferred to your given bank account. I would send you my bank account where you would wire my own share of the deal. I have no doubt that you would be faithful and sincere.
While I look forward to receiving your response, let me know if you have any question or concern. I would guide you all the ways on what to do to achieve success for us to smile to our banks soonest.
Message me at my private email (andrewgaudet1@outlook.com)
Sincerely,
Andrew Gaudet
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