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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:
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Daniel Thompson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <danielthoms@live.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Aug 2011 03:40:26 -0700
Subject: PAYMENT NOTIFICATION
Attention:Beneficiary
Upon careful study of your outstanding payment file,it came to the notice of the nominated paying bank in the United Kingdom that there was an abnormality in your payment file which need to be corrected to effect payment to you immediately.
Consequent upon the above,the paying bank appointed our law firm to perfect your payment transaction.We thus initiate this email to you from your contact details that was handed over to us.
You are to contact us urgently to enable us get the required correction and advise you accordingly on your getting the over delayed payment with details to be sent to you once payment is made to you.
We await your urgent response.
Yours faithfully,
Mr. Daniel Thompson
For:Equity Law Firm
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Anti-fraud resources:
