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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: Vivian Cosmos <vivian_cosmos@yahoo.com>
Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2012 22:52:25 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: GREETINGS MY DEAR
Hello dear
My name is Vivian I do pray that this email meets you well,though we haven't met or seen each other before but i believe that nature has a way of bringing people together for a Particular Purpose.sorry i wish to ask for your true friendship i don't know how you will feel about it,your profile motivates me so much. please if you don't mind I'll like you to reply me back so i can send you my picture and tell you more about myself I'm sending you this beautiful mail, with a wish for much happiness a big Thanks for your time on me.
Your new friend Vivian
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Anti-fraud resources:
