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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:
- ",500,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR.SONG LILE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <songlile901@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Tue, 8 May 2012 10:43:05 +0100
Subject: Re: TRUSTWORTHY PERSON FOR A BANK TRANSACTION!
I am a Staff of Hang Seng Bank HongKong, Director of funds operations of the Hang Seng Bank Ltd. I have an obscured business suggestion for you with trust if you are Godly sincere fearing human.That will be of great benefit for you
and I.
It involve the transfer of ($28,500,000.USD) if interested please get back to me as soon as possible with more details of this operation.
Kind Regards,
Mr.Song Lile.
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Anti-fraud resources: