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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:
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Jones Mercy <jonesmerci@gmail.com>
Reply-To: jonesmercy23@yahoo.in
Date: Tue, 24 Jan 2012 20:26:12 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Hello
Hello,
The best of the season
and please do not be surprise to this message ok.
My name is Mercy jones and i am a
single lady. One is not bound to have all the joys in live as you may have
everything in life but there are still those things which must share with
someone else as every one has his or her own share of pains to bear in life.
You may be financially and physically alright but may be lacking on the
emotional
side, finding your address among all the addresses in today, it gave me the green light to say I have gotten some one to
hold on, and
also believe to have a honest, trust worthy and God fearing one and why don't
we give ourselves a trial on pen pal relationship .Finally i pray that our good
God should guide and protect you
as you reply me this mail as I
will be very happy to give you my picture and tell you all about my family background with hope of having you as my future dream.
Yours friend Mercy reply me in my email
Jones
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Anti-fraud resources: