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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "dormant 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.
Fraud email example:
From: cynthia@fcmbintl.paks.pk
Date: Tue, 03 Nov 2009 23:58:29 -0500
Subject: Your Swift Response Is Needed. Please
Good day,
I am Cynthia Davis by name and i work as an accounting Auditor with
FCMBank,Nigeria.I
got your contact from the Embassy.
I have contacted you because there is a dormant account that has your last
Family name and it worth $1.2million US that will be of immense benefit to the
two of us here in my office if you will act wisely under my direction.
This business is 100% risk free as an Attorney will be contracted to
provide us
with all Legal Documents to back up our(your)claim.All i need is your honest
cooperation.
I will send you more info on this as soon as you get back to me. Please get
back to me as soon as you get this mail
Yours Sincerely
Cynthia Davis
Auditor-General F.C.M.B
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Anti-fraud resources:
