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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:
- "money orders " (Beware of any scheme that involves cashing checks or money orders and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere - you'll be liable for the entire amount if the checks or money orders turn out to be fake, even after you have received and forwarded cash. If it's a lottery prize, remember that real lotteries do not pay large prizes by check. They wire the money directly to your bank account and you do not pay for that. Many scammers promise a large check only in order to then demand payment of courier fees for a fake courier service. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Ronld Wills" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ronaldwills199@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 14 Aug 2010 11:13:20 -0700
Subject: HIRING!!FORWARD**RESUME
NTERIORDEC
249 W. 17th Street,
New York, NY 10011
Greetings,
I am Mr Ronald Wills Manager of INTERIORDEC publishing.We
need a representative from USA /CANADA/ who can be working
for us as a Payment Officer.we receive Payments from clients
in form of Money Orders and Check for which it's always too
expensive and stressful for me to come down and receive such
payment so We decided to contact you.As a Payment Officer
for the company all you have to do is below:
JOB DESCRIPTION
Receive Documents/Payments in form of Check, Money Order,wire transfer(account)
Deduct 10% which will be your percentage
Forward balance after deduction of percentage to the
companies Account.
Also you will be entitled to a monthly salary payment of $1000.
Email back with the Info below
NAME
FULL ADDRESS(not p.o. box)
CITY
STATE
ZIP CODE
CELL
Acc NUMBER
Hiring Manager
Ronald Wills
Human Resources Department,
www.interiordec.about.com
#610 930 5039
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Anti-fraud resources:
