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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: "@Mail DataBase Account Alert" <information@depart.com>
Reply-To: nka8039512742@gala.net
Date: Thu, 15 Apr 2010 12:57:13 +0545
Subject: Account Re-Activation (Please Reply)
Dear Account Users,
This is to inform you that this Email Account will be shut down in the
next 48 hours due to high rate of scam email and Junk mails that keep
coming into this account, so we like to know if you still want this
account on our e-mail database/mail server.
To enable us upgrade you account and give you the best of our services
please you must reply to this mail and Re- confirms your login information
to avoid interruption.
Full Name:...................................
Full Email Login: ......................
Password:....................................
Current Password:............................
After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be
interrupted and will continue as normal because series of maintenance
process need to be carried out on your mailbox.
Warning code:.....VX2G99AAJ
Failure to do this will automatically render your e-mail account
deactivated from our e-mail database/mail server. To enable us upgrade
your email account, please do reply to this mail.
Regional Mailserver Technical Support.
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Anti-fraud resources:
