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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: omar faruk <omar00faruk@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 14 Oct 2010 07:52:37 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: For your kind attention,
P {
MARGIN: 0px
}
UL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
OL {
MARGIN-TOP: 5px; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 5px
}
Hello,
For your kind attention, I need your urgent assistance in
transferring the
sum of $11.3million to your private account. This money has been here in
our
Bank lying dormant for years now without anybody coming for the claim of
it.
I want to release the money to you as the relative to our
deceased
customer(the account owner) who died a long with her supposed next of
kin since
31 July 2000.
By indicating your interest I will send you the full details on how
the
business will be executed.
Please respond urgently and delete if you are not interested.
Best wishes to you and your family.
Mr.omar
faruk
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Anti-fraud resources:
