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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:
- "from the desk of" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "my names are " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. L K Chung" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <leekimchung@rocketmail.com>
Date: Wed, 21 Jul 2010 22:54:41 +0100
Subject: [´ËÓʼþ¿ÉÄÜЯ´ø²¡¶¾£¬ÇëСÐÄ´ò¿ª£¡] Re:BIZ
>From The Desk Of: Mr. Lee Kim-Chung
Sai Wan Ho Branch Shaukiwan Road,
Hong Kong.
Date: 20th July, 2010.
I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this email private and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this email. I contact you independently and no one is informed of this email communication.
My names are Lee Kim-Chung with Hang Seng Bank Ltd (Hong Kong); I am getting in touch with you regarding the estate of a deceased client with similar last name and an investment placed under our banks management.
Should you be interested, kindly reply this mail by providing your names and contact phone number and I will place a call to you to explain in detail, because I don’t trust emails are private.
Your earliest response to this mail will be highly appreciated.
Kind Regards
Lee Kim-Chung
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Anti-fraud resources:
