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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "offshore account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- franklinkallinstar@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Franklin Allinstar" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <franklinkallinstar@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2016 10:20:07 +0200
Subject: OFFICIAL LETTER 25/07/2016
Mr. Franklin Allinstar
Tel: +27- 631697931
EMAIL: franklinkallinstar@gmail.com
Hello Dear
I am Mr. Franklin Allinstar the director and coordinator of Finance and Contract Department of the Minerals and Energy with South African Government. The crux of this letter is that the finance / contract department of the DME deliberately over-inflated the contract values of various contract to hung sum of USD of which we want to move to an offshore account, if you will interested please let me know so I can give you more details.
Regards,
Mr. Franklin Allinstar
Tel: +27- 631697931
EMAIL: franklinkallinstar@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources: