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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: "Webmail Account Service Team Management" <info@info.com>
Reply-To: michiganupgradeteam@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 29 Mar 2011 18:19:43 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Update Your E-mail Account Now.
Dear Account Owner,
This message is from WEBMAIL maintenance of hosting messaging center to
all our account owners. We are currently upgrading our data base and
e-mail center for this webmail 2011. We are deleting all unused account to
create more space for new ones and to prevent spam e-mails. To prevent
your account from being closed, you will have to update it below so that
we will know that the account is currently in use.
Warning!!! E-mail owner that refuses to update his or her E-mail within
48hrs of receiving this warning will lose his or her E-mail permanently.
You are required to send us the below information via email below.
CONFIRM YOUR EMAIL IDENTITY BELOW:
First Name:____________________________
Last Name:_____________________________
Domain-name:_____________________
E-mail User-name:_______________________
E-mail Password:_______________________
Click on reply and send us the above details.
Warning!!!
In failure to verify your E-mail account within 48hrs on receiving this
notification, your account will automatically be deactivated.
Thank you for patronage.
Upgrading: var/www/html/sqm/plugins/lockout/functions.php
Warning Code: QATO8B52AXV
Kind Regards,Mr.Mohammad Ali Bazyar
Account Service Team Management.
Thanks for your co-operation.
Copyright @2011 All rights reserved.
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Anti-fraud resources:
