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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:
- "pchan1954@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Patrick Chan" <patchan2005@yahoo.cn>
Reply-To: <pchan1954@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 27 Apr 2010 03:42:08 -0700
Subject: Assistance
My name is Patrick Chan, the Principal Assurance manager for the Hang Seng Bank in Hong Kong. The sum of $22,500.000.00USD is
in my possession. I do solicit for your assistance in moving these funds out of my bank. I intend to give you 40% of the
total funds as compensation for your assistance. I would respectfully request that you keep the contents of this mail
confidential and respect the integrity of the information you come by as a result of this mail. I contact you independently
and no one is informed of this communication. Should you be interested, please send me mail through my private email for more
details (pchan1954@yahoo.cn)
Regards
Patrick Chan
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Anti-fraud resources:
