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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:
- "hundred thousand us 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)
- ",500,000" (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)
- "offshore account" (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.
- 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.
- newmanrichard562@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Richard Newman" <salesopolis@multicop.com.br>
Reply-To: newmanrichard562@gmail.com
Date: 13 Sep 2019 10:41:20 -0500
Subject: Confidential Proposal
Greetings to you.
My name is MR. RICHARD NEWMAN from Republic of Angola my email
address is
( newmanrichard562@gmail.com ) I work under the Federal Ministry
of Petroleum
and Natural Resources Tender Board Committee in charge of
awarding contracts
to foreign contractors. In 2017, a contracts was executed and I
deliberately
over invoiced the contract sum to the tune of Twenty Five
Million, Five
Hundred Thousand US Dollars Only. ($25,500,000.00).
I, as a civil servant cannot keep this amount in my personal
account here in
my country because of our government fund monitoring team on all
public office
holders account and we are forbidding by the Law of Angola
Government for any
Civil Servant to hold or operate an offshore account.
In view of this, I decided to look for a foreign partner such as
yours to assist
me to channel/move this funds into your company /custody for
good yield of this
money and its safety and YOU will be compensated with 30% ONLY
from the total
sum as your own share while my own share of 70% will be re-
invested in your Country
which the investment will be under your total control for a
considerable time frame
of 10 years renewable every 4 years and we will share THE ROI
50/50.
Kindly let me know your acceptance to this offer and get back to
me with your full
details and your private telephone number for our immediate
communication
Please understand that this is a very serious matter and need
your full cooperation.
Waiting to hear from you.
Yours Faithfully.
Mr RICHARD NEWMAN
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