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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: "Abuse" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <captmichaelscholl987@9.cn>
Date: Fri, 12 Nov 2010 19:57:06 +0800
Subject: *Webmail Abuse Notice*
*Webmail Notice*
Your email account has been reported for numerous spam activities from a foreign ip recently. As a result, Webmaster has received advice to suspend your account. However, you might not be the one promoting this Spam, as your email account might have been compromised.
To protect your account from sending spam mails, you are to confirm your true ownership of this account by providing your username/Email Address_______ and Password______ as a reply to this message. On receipt of the requested information, the Webmaster email support shall block your account from receiving Spam.
Failure to do this will violate the Webmaster email terms & conditions. This will render your account inactive.
NOTE: You will be send a password reset message in next seven (7) working days after undergoing this process for security reasons.
Webmail Access © Webmaster © 2010 © Webmaster. All Rights Reserved. Webmaster Communications
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Anti-fraud resources:
