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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:
- ",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)
- "contract award committee" (the name of a person or institution often appearing in 419 scams)
- "murrabenson@yandex.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Murray Benson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <murrabenson@yandex.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Mar 2021 00:18:25 +0100
Subject: COVID-19
Sir
We wish to contact you after satisfactory Information obtained from
the Nigeria Chamber of Commerce. Based on aforementioned , we
are convinced that you will be able to work with us and provide us
with a solution to effect the remittance of the Sum of
$95,500,000:00 resulting from over costing of services/work done
for the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation, by foreign
companies.
We are top civil servants /officials of Nigerian National Petroleum
(NNPC).We evaluate and secure approvals for payment of contracts
executed for Nigerian National Petroleum (NNPC) but In our capacity as
Members of contract award committee, we have tactfully raised values
of the contract awarded to a foreign company for onward disbursement
among ourselves. All we need is to send application to the Director
of Accounts / Finance and Director of Audit and payment will be made
to you. This transaction is 100% safe. We are seeking your assistance
and permission to remit this amount into your Account.
With the effect of COVID-19 Pandemic on Economy Globally, I am sure
this can help you to augment your working capital once actualized.
Please respond if you are interested.
Thanks for your co-operations.
Thanks
Murray Benson
Email: murrabenson@yandex.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
