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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "conference@unityforpeace-org.co.cc" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "CONFERENCE INVITATION" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <conference@unityforpeace-org.co.cc>
Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2012 10:37:48 -0400
Subject:
Dear Sir/Madam,
The Unity for Peace Building Organization is extending to you an invitation to attend the international seminar meeting on Global Peace and Health Security that will commence from 17th to 22nd July 2012 at 4047 West Palm Drive Florida City, FL 33034 United States of America. It is our great privilege to invite you to attend this international seminar with us here in United States of America.
The seminar meeting will contain various discussions and mini workshops related to the issues of Global Peace and Importance of Health Security. For registration guidance Please contact the conference annoucer for more details.
Head of secretariat
External Affairs Director of UPB
Email: conference@unityforpeace-org.co.cc
Note: you will be provided with visa assistant for only those that needs the United States visa in their passport to attend this meeting with us, and air round trip tickets to attend this seminar will also be provided by this organization to all interested participants. The Workshop welcomes paper presentation from any interested participants. Do contact the conference secretary for guidance regarding registration.
Once again we thank you for the interest to attend this meeting with us.
Thanks,
Annoucer UPB
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Anti-fraud resources:
