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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: "Ms Cindy Bernet" <cindy.bernet@worldemail.com>
Reply-To: mscindybernet@8u8.com
Date: 6 Feb 2010 05:43:05 -0500
Subject: URGENT: Waiting to hear from you
Your contact came to me through a friend who works in the embassy of my
country. But I was careful not to reveal to him why I needed a competent
foreign link in the person of your respected self. To introduce myself, my
name is Ms Cindy Bernet, an Accountant with FCMB Plc. I'm writing following
an opportunity in my office that will be of great benefit to us. Valued at
3,472,000 USD. We will share in the Ratio of 50/50 % at the end of this
deal. All I require is your honest cooperation. I'll send you details of
this proposal including my Photos and ID for you to me better, as soon as I
hear from you. For more information Please contact me on
ms.cindybernet@8u8.com immediately
Sincerely
Cindy
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Anti-fraud resources:
