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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Richard Davids" <richardavids@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: richarddavids222@yahoo.com.hk
Date: Thu, 8 May 2014 02:53:21 -0700
Subject: COMPLIMENTS!!!
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Hello Friend,
I have been in search of someone with this last name with you, so when
I saw your name I was pushed to contact you and see how best we can
assist each other.
I am Richard Davids, a Banker here in Ghana, I believe it is the wish
of God for me to come across your contact now. I am having an
important business discussion I wish to share with you which I believe
will interest you because, it is in connection with your last name and
you are going to benefit from it.
Let me know your mind on this and please do treat this information as
TOP SECRET. We shall go over the details once I receive your urgent
response.
Thanks
Richard Davids
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Anti-fraud resources:
