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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:
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Maria <mp48@fastwebnet.it>
Reply-To: annamaria@qatar.io
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 2010 18:59:48 +0100 (CET)
Subject:
I am Sis. Anna Maria Alexander a dying widow with cancer, the wife of late Mr.Ro
bert Alexander.both of us are citizens of the united state of America.I have a c
haritable offer of Seven Million Five Hundred Thousand Pounds. is deposited with
a Bank in Europe It is my last wish to see this money distributed to to charity
organizations,churches and NGO, I await your quick response to my mail box (ale
xanderannamaria234@live.com) as this is my last wish to see this funds transferr
ed to you before my Death
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Anti-fraud resources:
