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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 Inna Khodorkovsky <office-----w0244@att.net>
Reply-To: mrskhodorkovsky@mailaton.com
Date: Tue, 15 Mar 2011 21:39:53 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Business Proposal
P {MARGIN:0px;}UL {MARGIN-TOP:5px;MARGIN-BOTTOM:5px;}OL {MARGIN-TOP:5px;MARGIN-BOTTOM:5px;}Warmest Greetings,
Warm greetings to you and the family. I am Mrs. Inna Khodorkovsky I seek your assistance in investing for me in your Country and your assistance in buying a personal house in your Country where I and my children can stay as I am planning to relocate fully from Russia my country due to persecution by the government on my Husband and my family.
I'll be delighted if you could help me get a house before I come over. If actually you can help me feel free to let me know and also if you have other good investment ideas in your country, it will give me pleasure to know them, for possible investment.
Do get back to me on my private email: mrskhodorkovsky@mailaton.com
Have a nice day.
Regards
Mrs. Inna Khodorkovsky.
NB: More information about myself and my family could be obtained from
the link below: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3213505.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4360688.stm
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Anti-fraud resources:
