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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- 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.
- irinasankara@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: irinasankara <irinasankara@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jul 2011 19:27:04 -0700
Subject: please contact me here with my email (irinasankara@yahoo.com)
Hello my Dear Friend. My Name is Miss irina( irinasankara@yahoo.com ) I hope this mail get's to you at the best of times. I came by your profile and after going through in more detail, I was moved to open communication with you in a bit that you would be interested too in getting to know me. I find a lot of things about you interesting and really nice and would be glad if we can communicate more. You look like a great person, and a gentleman at that. I wish you the best the day has to offer and would be glad to hear from you.and it will be nice if we can start from here, please contact me with my email address ( irinasankara@yahoo.com ) I will always stand to reply u and send you my pics which i hope you will like. Best Regard.Miss irina
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Anti-fraud resources:
