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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:
- "i will like you to " (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.
- ritazinga@yahoo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: rita zinga <ritazinga@yahoo.com>
Date: Sun, 13 Nov 2011 10:58:40 +0000
Subject: Hello
Hello
My Dear how are you doing today, i want to be a true friend and a close
confidant friend with you,and i would love for us to have communication and
i will like you to contact me back soon with my email address
ritazinga@yahoo.com so that i can give you my pic for you to know whom i
am, I believe we can move from here and i will tell you more about myself
to know each other.So please mail me on my email, Remember colour or
distance does not matter, but love matters allot in life!!
Yours new friend Rita .
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Anti-fraud resources:
