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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mohamed Eissa" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <issa1mohamed@yahoo.com>
Date: Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:26:30 +0100
Subject: PLEASE HELP ME
Dear Sir,
I am Mohamed Eissa Esq., a legal attorney to Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak, the wife of Deposed Egyptian President Sayed Mubarak who is seriously ill and has slipped into coma, I need to know if I can entrust you with a matter of great importance that will be of mutual benefits to both of us.
kindly do get back to me as soon as possible because I do not want loose all that I have saved some where safe before the government confiscate everything as the are already planning to do.I will appreciate a response from you regarding my mail to you along with your information.
Best Regards
Mohamed Eissa Esq.
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Anti-fraud resources:
