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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Vivian Cosmos <viviancosmos03@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: vivian_cosmos@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 3 Oct 2011 10:41:57 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: I WANT TO KNOW YOU MORE
Hello dear,
IT gives me great joy and happiness to say hello to you this day.
I am interested in creating a good relationship with you and
i hope we can be good friends. I hope to tell you more about myself and my
background when next i will write after hearing back from you. A little about me;
My name is Miss VIVIAN I. COSMOS 25 years old, single and never married.very beautiful and attractive i am from Somalia
Please send to me your pictures and tell me about yourself. My approach may
also sound strange to you but i have chosen to make a good partner from
outside my country for my own special reasons.
If only i will be given a
chance and a hand of friendship, i will make myself more clearer and you will
also reason with me on my decision to contact you. It takes a day to make a good
friend and i hope you are one i can count on. I will send you my pictures
when you respond. Thank you and God bless.(Remember that distance,age or
biological color does not matter in a real love/relationship as much as there is
love and better understanding. I am waiting for your reply now!
VIVIAN I. COSMOS
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Anti-fraud resources:
