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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: "MEGRA HILARY ASHTON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <megrahi2011@gmail.com>
Date: Wed, 1 Feb 2012 11:33:11 -0800
Subject: PAYMENT BY ATM (CONFIRM THIS BY REPLY)
Attn : Beneficiary,
It was Agreed upon that your Funds would be released to you on a special method of payment which tag Name Reads"SWIFT CREDIT CARD".You are Advised to Re-confirm YOUR NAME, ADDRESS, OCCUPATION, NEXT OF KIN. PHONE AND FAX NUMBER TO CLAIM YOUR FUND. A pact has been signed by European Union and as way of debt buy back from Africa.
To this effect no beneficiary is advise to continue any communication with any persons or office in africa , hence all arrangement has been perfected for effective payment modality without rigors.
MEGRA HILARY ASHTON
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Anti-fraud resources:
