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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million united states dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "@lawyer.com" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
- 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.
- michaelfink@lawyer.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Hi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <michaelfink@lawyer.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2011 04:38:43 -0800
Subject: Dear Friend,
Dear Friend,
It's just my urgent need for foreign partner that made me contact you for this transaction. I am Michael Fink a
lawyer by profession from Malaysia, in South East Asia and permit me to nominate or submit your name to the
Bank, where my former client Late Mr. Robert Thompson, who died along with his entire family on 31 July 2003
in a plane crash, he left Sixty Two Million United States Dollars in a fix deposit account.
Right now his Bank have written and instructed me to submit his next of kin within 14days for immediate
release of his estate based on his wish. Please contact me back urgently if you are interested to work with
me for more details.
Barrister Michael Fink
Priavte E-mail: michaelfink@lawyer.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
