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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "barrister" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- "chambers" (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.
Fraud email example:
From: P.Trust Investiment Company Limited <primerosesecurities@live.com>
Reply-To: <barrister.solicitor2010@yahoo.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:02:19 +0100
Subject: Re: GOOD NEWS FOR YOU
Hello My Dear
How
are you and your family?? Hope fine, because of the interest and
likeness I have in you which makes me to forward this piece of
information to you if you can agree to work together , you stand a
chance of receiving the sum of $5000 every week from the business which I
am going to introduced to you.
It is 100% risk free and neither
payment nor loan is required from you, all I needed from you is your
effort and Trust to each other, if you don’t mind, an acknowledgment to this
massage will accelerate my
response from my desk with details of the whole matter to you.
Thanks and God Bless you
Yours faithfully
Barrister Wisdom Obiora
Principal Attorney
Finance Bank of Africa plc
Wisdom Chambers$Consultancies
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Anti-fraud resources:
