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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:
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- "nigeria national petroleum corporation" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr.Mohammed Usman" <td5696711@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mohammedusman012@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 13 Sep 2019 08:03:17 -0400
Subject: Partnership Needed
Please pardon me for disturbing your valued time. My name is
Dr.Mohammed Usman. I am the chairman contract awarding committee of
Nigeria National petroleum corporation (NNPC). I have important
information to share with you. In 2010 we awarded a contract to one
company in Germany which we deliberately over-invoiced to ($17.5M), as
our 10% commission. So now we want to transfer this amount to a
foreign bank account as our own commission and we are looking for a
very honest and trust worthy person who will receive the fund on our
behalf because we are not allowed to operate foreign account as we are
still in service. We agreed to concede to you 30% of the total amount
to you for assistance, while 5% is mapped out to cover any or all
incidental expenses in the course of transfer. It is important for you
to note that the original contractors who executed the contract had
already been fully paid, leaving the 10% that we want to transfer out
now for ourselves. If interested, kindly reply back for details.
Yours truly,
Dr.Mohammed Usman
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Anti-fraud resources:
