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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: "Mrs.Fatimah Ali" <mrssmubarakx1@gmail.com>
Reply-To: fatimah_ali02@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Fri, 28 Jun 2013 18:40:36 +0100 (BST)
Subject: From Damascus Syria
Greeting from Mrs.Fatimah Ali
Assalamualaikum!
I wish to bring to your notice my interest to secure permanent residence in your country .I hope and pray that I have the right person who will help me.I have great interest to buy a property for my family in your country because of on going civil war between Rebel Group and Government led forces of al-Assad regime here Syria which have brought destruction to our great country.i am looking for a property within the range of 150,000 dollars to $400,000 dollars .Kindly forward the details of the property at this range and lets discuss the price as i will want to stand as mediator between me and the selling by handling the buying of the property in my behalf by yourself as i don't anybody in your country. My name is Mrs.Fatimah Ali.,i live in Damascus Syria with my family , it is of emergency that i need this property in order to leave here to your country with my family as soon as possible , I will be pleased to receive your urgent response in regards.
You can read more about the crisis in my country in this website:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=45005&Cr=Syria
http://in.reuters.com/article/2013/05/15/syria-crisis-un-deaths-idINDEE94E0CJ20130515
http://news.yahoo.com/syrian-army-advances-qusair-damascus-suburb-152552144.html
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Anti-fraud resources:
