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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "your loan " (Beware of fake loan offers. Real lenders would not normally use free webmail addresses such as Yahoo, nor would they lend to individuals or small businesses in a different country from where they are based. Beware of mobile phones or redirector numbers!)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- dthompsondept@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: DONALD THOMPSON <dthompsondept@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:18:01 -0700
Subject: DO YOU NEED A LOAN TO PAY OFF BILLS
HELLO,
DO YOU NEED A LOAN? DO YOU NEED A BUSINESS SET UP LOAN? DO YOU NEED A
PERSONAL, DO YOU NEED AN HOME LOAN OR WHAT KIND OF LOAN DO YOU NEED. WELL I
AM HERE TO INFORM YOU THAT YOU CAN GET A LOAN AS LOW AS 2.5% AT THE ON GOING
TRECIA JONES LOAN COMPANY, SO IF YOU KNOW YOU NEED A LOAN THEN FILL THE
FOLLOWING FORM BELOW AND SEND IT BACK TO US VIA: dthompsondept@gmail.com
BORROWER LOAN APPLICATION FORM
NAME:
AGE
SEX
CELL/TELL
MARITA STATUS
ADDRESS
COUNTRY
OCCUPATION
AMOUNT NEEDED
LOAN DURATION
SO FILL THE ABOVE FORM AND THEN WILL CAN START PROCESSING YOUR LOAN REQUEST.
THANKS,
MR DONALD THOMPSON
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Anti-fraud resources:
