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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "johncole lted co" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <pannonecom@rocketmail.com>
Date: Sun, 27 Nov 2011 20:01:02 -0800
Subject: Samples
Dear Sir/Madam,
I write to inform you that we are interested in your products.
Please kindly send us your catalog. And we would like to inquire about the following:
*Minimum Order Quantity
*Your delivery time
*Payment terms
*And your products warranty
Without waisting much of your time, Please kindly click on the Link Below a Site will
come up :therefore endeavor to sign in your email and password for easy View of the
product i need from your company
http://folzin.altervista.org/Samples/
thanks, hopeing to here
from you.
Looking forward to your reply
best regards
John cole
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Anti-fraud resources:
