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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- secretarialforms@aim.com (AOL Instant Messenger; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Ms. Margaret Wilson" <margaretwilson@globomail.com>
Date: Fri, 12 Aug 2011 14:08:24 -0000
Subject: Global Seminar Invitation!!!
Dear Sir/Madam
Warm greetings from Association for Peace
Building Florida U.S.A! We are organizing two
weeks seminar event on "Global Security and
Human Affairs" from October 17th to 21st 2011
Florida and from October 24th to 28th 2011 Dakar
Senegal West Africa. We take the pleasure of inviting
you and your colleagues to the seminar.
The seminar will contain various talks and mini
workshops related to the issues of Human Affairs
and Global Security in our society. Please
contact the seminar secretariat office for
more information and registration for the seminar: secretarialforms@aim.com
Looking forward to your honorable presence,
Thanks and Regards
Ms. Margaret Wilson
margaretwilson@globomail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
