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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dormant account" (Banks mentioned in 419 scams are always fake (real banks don't communicate using mobile phones or free webmail addresses))
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs Juliet Adams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <julliet.adams2@virgilio.it>
Date: Fri, 22 Jul 2011 14:26:04 -0700
Subject: TREAT AS MOST URGENT
TREAT AS MOST URGENT
I am Mrs Juliet Adams, a banker by profession. In our bank exists a dormant account owned by an American national who died in a plane crash with the wife. The total amount is $22.7 million. I want to put your name in the computer as a business partner to the late customer so that you can comfortably send an application for claim of the funds to our bank.
I look forward to hearing from you as soon as possible.
Mrs Juliet Adams
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Anti-fraud resources:
