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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: arab loto <arabloto@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: millercharles12@yahoo.dk
Date: Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:29:17 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: partnership
i have been in contact with your country's chamber of commerce and industry within this few months consulting to verify the investment possibilities in this country.
After much consultations, i was made to know that the only possibility to be able to estabilish and investment in your country, must be with an indigene and a legal citizen of this country. i was also informed that, your government is taking this steps to allow citizen to participate and benefit from foreign investment as a way to reduce unemployment.
base on this findings, i concluded to contact you and request your partnership to invest in any profitable and lucrative sector of this country's economy which you are capable to handle with little supervision.
if you have accepted this offer of investment partnership, kindly reply so we can discuss further on how to provide initial capital for the investment take off . please be aware that you will play the role of a full time partner as you are a legal citizen.
awaiting your urgent reply.
kelvin kluich
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Anti-fraud resources:
