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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.
- 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.
- 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.
- andnorth@aol.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Secretshopper®" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <andnorth@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Aug 2011 18:14:15 +0200
Subject: Great Mystery Shopping In Your Area!
Hello,
My name is Richard Schaffer a representative of Secret Shopper®.
We're a mystery shopping company that conducts secret shopping evaluations throughout USA,Canada and Others countries .
We're looking for 70 qualified shoppers to conduct secret shopping evaluations in the US.
We need individuals such as yourself to work about 4hrs a week,performing secret shopping activities.
This is a part time job paying between $400-$600 per week.
Secret Shopper® is accepting applications for individuals to become Secret shoppers.
There is no charge to become a shopper.
There are many secret shopping companies out there that ask you to pay "a small fee" to become a shopper. Don't do it!
At Secret Shopper®,you will never pay to shop! We pay you!
The assignment will pay you $200/evaluation and an avg. of 3 evaluations a week.
Show only your continued interest by sending the following information to andnorth@aol.com
Full name(s):
Full Physical Address:
City, State and Zip:
Contact Numbers(CELL** & Home):
Email addresses (If you use more than 1):
Age:
Current Occupation:
Last Position Held:
Thanks.
Richard Schaffer.
Secret Shopper®
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Anti-fraud resources:
