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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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "PayPal" <test@test.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Nov 2012 23:42:15 +0800
Subject: Update Your Account Info
style1 {
font-family: Tahoma;
font-size: x-small;
}
style2 {
color: #0E58A2;
font-family: Tahoma;
font-size: x-small;
text-decoration: underline;
}
style3 {
color: #0E58A2;
}
style4 {
font-family: Tahoma;
color: #0E58A2;
font-size: xx-small;
}
style5 {
font-size: xx-small;
font-weight: bold;
}
style6 {
font-size: xx-small;
}
auto-style1 {
font-family: Tahoma;
font-size: small;
}
auto-style2 {
font-size: small;
}
auto-style3 {
color: #000000;
}
Dear Client,
This is an automatic message by the system to let you know
that you have to confirm your account information within 48 hours.
Your account has been frozen temporarily
in order to protect it.
The account will continue to be frozen until it is approved And Validate Your Account Information.
Once you have updated
your account records, your information will be confirmed and your account will
start to work as normal once again.
This will help protect you in the future.
The process does not take more than 3 minutes.
To proceed to confirm your account
information please click on the link below and follow the instructions that will
be required.
Click Here
To Verfiy Your Account info
© 2012 PayPal.com All rights reserved.
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Anti-fraud resources:
