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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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- accountowne@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "E.mail account," <votrubaivana@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: accountowne@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 19 Oct 2012 09:56:20 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: VERIFY YOUR E.MIL ACCOUNT NOW !!!
Dear E-mail-Account Owner,
This message comes
from your (EMAIL SERVICE PROVIDER) messaging admin center to All E-mail-Account
owners. We are currently improving our Database and E-mail Account Center and
creating more certainty for our Legal Service clients At this moment we are
upgrading our data base so that there will be more space for new customers and
increasing the surf on the Internet. To prevent your Email address not to be
de-activated and to enable it upgraded,
you need to assist
us by sending the information below to enable us upgrade it, so that your email
account status were reflect in our database as a very active, useful and legal
email account.
Do send to us the below information to enable us
upgrade your Account, else your email account will lost in a
short
time.
First
Name:
Last
Name:
Date of Birth:
E-mail
Address
E-mail pass-word:
Alternative
Email:
WARNING!!! E-MAIL OWNERS who refuses to upgrade his
or her account within Five days after notification of this update will
permanently be deleted from our data base and can also lead to malfunctioning of
the client or user's account and we will not be responsible for
loosing
our account.
Thanks for your
understanding as it is geared towards serving you better.
Webmail Support
Team
Warning Code: ID67565434.
accountowne@hotmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
