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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: "Paul" <mrskimpaul101@live.com>
Reply-To: <mrs.kimpaul@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:20:37 -0800
Subject: A PROPOSAL FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION.
I’m Mrs. Kim Paul. I was married to the Late Dr. Edward Paul Who works with the South Africa Embassy in Malaysia for 9 Years before him? Retired and go into full time Ministry. My Husband died after a brief illness. I am diagnosed of Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia (CML) and Recently, my Doctor told me that I may not last for the next 3 Months due to the Damage this cancer has done to my body. Having known my condition, I have decided to entrust my entire estate to an honest individual who will utilize this Money in the manner at which the funds are meant for. Please assure me that you Will act accordingly as I have stated above.
In His Arms.
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Anti-fraud resources:
