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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "(efcc)" (This name is often mentioned in money recovery scams (re-scam): the real EFCC does not contact victims to offer to get their money back because that is near impossible. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Watts Hudson <watts.hudson@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: Watts Hudson <sterry080@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 11:07:45 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: ATTENTION
ATT: Sir/Madam
My name is Watts Hudson a special adviser to the Governor in one ofthe big Oil producing State herein Nigeria. I don't want to disclose theState here in the Internet for Security reasons. My Master mandated me tocontact who ever is capable to handle this project, he really wants toinvest outside Nigeria for security reason and for the future of his family.He is facing a big problem here in Nigeria with Economic and Financial CrimeCommission (EFCC), they are only waiting for him to step down so that theycan probe him. If he can be able to invest outside the country as soon aspossible, this will give chances of winning case with Economic and FinancialCrime Commission (EFCC). We need urgent attention if you are interested todo this business with us. And i really want to know where we can meet any Country of your choice for us to have a concrete agreement of this Investment.
I await your urgent reply,Watts Hudson.Special Adviser to the Governor
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Anti-fraud resources:
