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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Todd Richardson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <atijoboffer@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2010 19:02:01 -0000
Subject: Hello
Visit our website: http://www.zurich.com.hk
DISCLAIMER:
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THIS E-MAIL IS ADDRESSED TO THE RECIPIENT FOR GENERAL INFORMATION PURPOSES AND SHALL NOT BE REGARDED AS ANY TERMS AND CONDITIONS APPLICABLE TO PRODUCTS AND SERVICES NOR SHALL IT CONSTITUTE ANY OFFER FOR SALE OR SOLICITATION OF BUSINESS TO BUY ANY INSURANCE PRODUCTS, AND WITHOUT ANY RESPONSIBILITY ON THE ACCURACY THEREOF. YOU ARE NOT ENCOURAGED TO TRANSMIT ANY PERSONAL DATA BY E-MAIL. YOU ARE ADVISED TO TRANSMIT ANY PERSONAL DATA IN WRITING BY POST OR HAND DELIVERY AS E-MAIL TRANSMISSION WILL NOT BE A SE
CURED MEANS TO TRANSMIT ANY PERSONAL DATA.
THIS E-MAIL IS INTENDED FOR THE NAMED RECIPIENT ONLY. THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MESSAGE MAY BE CONFIDENTIAL, OR COMMERCIALLY SENSITIVE. IF YOU ARE NOT THE INTENDED RECIPIENT YOU MUST NOT REPRODUCE OR DISTRIBUTE ANY PART OF THE E-MAIL, DISCLOSE ITS CONTENTS TO ANY OTHER PARTY, OR TAKE ANY ACTION IN RELIANCE ON IT. IF YOU HAVE RECEIVED THIS E-MAIL IN ERROR, PLEASE CONTACT THE SENDER IMMEDIATELY. PLEASE DELETE THIS MESSAGE FROM YOUR COMPUTER.
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Anti-fraud resources:
