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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: Brigitte Alaspaa <brigitte2@centrum.cz>
Reply-To: alaspaabrigitte@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:58:35 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Assistance Please.
Dear Sir,
My name is Brigitte Alaspaa the daughter of Alhaji.Mohammad Alaspaa from Syria. Right now I am in Accra Ghana seeking Asylum due to the crises in my country.I am contacting you for an assistance to help me retrieve the sum of $US.7.2 million which my father deposited here in Ghana on November 2011. It is sad to say that my family was killed by during this recent massacre in Syria
Now, I am seeking for your assistance to help me retrieve the money from the security company to your country, so that I can come over there to invest with the fund under your care. If you are willing to assist me, get back to me through my private e-mail so that I will give you more details.
Sincerely,
Brigitte Alaspaa.
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Anti-fraud resources:
