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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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "consignment " (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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)
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. HOWARD ABBOTT" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <abbotthoward1@hotmail.com>
Date: Wed, 13 Jun 2012 19:25:50 +0800
Subject: Your good attention needed
Good Day
This is to let you know that we discovered two Metal trunk boxes that bears your name and your address so we decided to find out the name
of the delivery agent who suppose to delivery it to you to the final destination. Base on this discovery we decided to contact you to work
out a modality to delivery it to you.
Make sure you reply without much delay as every arrangement to delivery it to you in perfect order. If you wish you know any thing
about this consignment packages then kindly email us back for more directive on how to received it by America Express Home Delivery with
low cost.
Reconfirm again by Forwarding your home address together with your direct cell phone And any of your ID to avoid wrong delivery of your consignment to your
door step.
God bless United State of America.
My Regards to your wonderful family’s
MR. HOWARD ABBOTT
UNITED STATES CUSTOMS AGENT
FORT LAUDERDALE HOLLYWOOD
INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT FLORIDA.
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Anti-fraud resources:
