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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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: margo747@sbcglobal.net
Date: Wed, 29 Feb 2012 00:19:01 -0800 (PST)
Subject: Margo Jones Sad News!!!
This message may be coming to you as a surprise but I need your help.
Few days back I made an unannounced vacation trip to Spain,Madrid.
Everything was going fine until last night when I got mugged on my way
back to the hotel.They Stole all my cash, credit cards and cellphone but
thank God I still have my life and passport. Another shocking is that
the hotel manager has been unhelpful to me for reasons I don't know. I'm
writing you from a local library cybercafe..I reported to the police
and after writing down some statements that's the last I had from them.I
contacted the consulate and all I keep hearing is they will get back to
me. I need your help ...I need you to help me out with a loan to settle
my bills here so I can get back home tomorrow. I'll refund the money as
soon as I get back. All I need is 1,200Euro..Let me know if you can get
me the money then I tell you how to get it to me.i will be waiting to
read from you as soon as possible.
Thanks.
VERY URGENT
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Anti-fraud resources:
