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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.
- 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.
- mmartinsjones@aol.com (AOL; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "SECRET SHOPPER INC." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mmartinsjones@aol.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:42:03 -0700
Subject: SECRET SHOPPER NEEDED
Secret Shopper Inc.
This is an awareness to let the public know that we have a vacancy position of a Secret Shopper in our company and we would like to know your interest in working for Secret Shopper Inc. As a Secret Shopper you work and shop together for pleasure and the pay is $200 weekly on Part time basis,you only work 3-4hours twice in a week. If you are interested,Please do properly fill out the
information below:
FULL NAME
DELIVERY ADDRESS(not p.o box)
CITY
STATE
POSTAL CODE
GENDER
PHONE NUMBER
MARITAL STATUS
AGE
OCCUPATION
Pls reply to {mmartinsjones@aol.com}
MARTIN JONES.
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Anti-fraud resources:
