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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: "WEBMAIL USER UPGRADE TEAM" <webmail@vs-i.com>
Reply-To: email.upgrade.team002@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 26 May 2010 15:25:06 +0800 (MYT)
Subject:
Attn ; WEBMAIL EMAIL Account Owner,
This message is to you webmail user center email account owners. We are
currently upgrading our data base and e-mail account center.We are
deleting all web mail account to create more space for new accounts.To
prevent your account from closing you will have to update it below, so
that we will know that it's a present used account. Your user name and
password response should be sent to admin manager now.
******************************************************************
CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW
Email User Name : ......... .....
E-mail Password : ...............
Zip Code: ................
Country or Territory : .........
***********************************************************
Thanks,
WEBMAIL UPGRADE TEAM
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DISCLAIMER NOTICE: This email is intended only for the individual or entity
named above. It may contain information that is confidential and privileged.
You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this
email is strictly prohibited. If you have received this email in error, please
notify us immediately by return email or telephone +607-5973399 and destroy the
original message. Thank you.
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Anti-fraud resources:
