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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:
- "loan amount" (Beware of fake loan offers. Real lenders would not normally use free webmail addresses such as Yahoo, nor would they lend to individuals or small businesses in a different country from where they are based. Beware of mobile phones or redirector numbers!)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: mary jame <marysmithloanfirm@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Sep 2011 18:00:20 -0700
Subject:
GREETING
I miss mary smith ur loan offer and provide a credit of 3% above
This information will be used for the preparation of the credit conditions
and
terms of the loan you are looking for.
Here is information necessary for us to continue the loan transaction
:
DATA:
Information about the loan:
What kind of loan you :______________
Purpose of the loan :__________
Loan amount :__________
To contact :___________
name :__________________
of :_______________
State :_______________
address :________________
instead :_______________
State :__________________
Zip :________________
E-mail :_______________
Tel :________________
regard
Miss Mary Smith
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Anti-fraud resources:
