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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:
- "anderson_darrelclinton@ymail.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "AMERICAN SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <anderson_darrelclinton@ymail.com>
Date: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:27:33 +0100
Subject: AMERICAN SOLDIER IN AFGHANISTAN
Hello my good friend ,
I am Second Lieutenant Anderson Darrel
Clinton, an officer of the U.S Army. I just moved to Afghanistan from Iraq
as one of the last batch that just left and have some items I will need to
ship to you.Can you be trusted? we thank you guys for your prayers . I
will only highlight you more on this transaction as soon as i hear from
you.please signify your interest by replying to my private email.with your
name and mobile number to ( anderson_darrelclinton@ymail.com )
you can view
this link to understand more,
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16192105
Thanks
Respectfully,
2LT Anderson Darrell Clinton
United
States Marine Corps. Kabul
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Anti-fraud resources:
