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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: "Mrs. Abike Dabiri" <vorholzer@att.net>
Reply-To: compensation.departmet@w.cn
Date: Thu, 10 Mar 2011 03:48:21 -0800 (PST)
Subject: From Mrs. Abike Dabiri.
We are writing to let you know that your Compensation payment has been
programmed to be paid to you now VIA an ATM CARD and it will interest
you to know that your ATM CARD is ready to be delivered to you now but
we need you to immediately re-confirm your postal address where you
would wish to have your ATM CARD delivered to you and your
passport/drivers license or any for of identification, this is in other
to make sure that at the point and time of delivery your ATM CARD is not
delivered or handed over to the wrong person.
The re-confirmation of your address is needed to safe, safety and accurate delivery of your ATM CARD to you in person.
Waiting your urgent response now.
Mrs. Abike Dabiri.
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Anti-fraud resources:
