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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:
- "abhabos@live.com" (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: Abdel-Wahab Osman <abwao@superposta.com>
Reply-To: abdelwo@ymail.com
Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2012 11:47:35 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: INVESTMENT INQUIRY IN YOUR COUNTRY:-
Dear Sir, INVESTMENT INQUIRY IN YOUR COUNTRY THROUGH YOU:Having gotten your contact from your country's database, I am interested in investing USD 22.5 million in your country in any viable and profitable venture that you will recommend.Please be assured that the money is from a genuine source and I am willing to present you all the necessary documents to authenticate my claims.If you are capable / interested to invest this money in your country kindly forward your full contact to enable furnish you with more details.NB: IF YOU ARE CAPABLE / INTERESTED TO HANDLE THIS INVESTMENT FOR ME KINDLY GET BACK TO ME VIA MY PERSONAL EMAIL: abhabos@live.com
Regards.Abdel-Wahab Osman
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Anti-fraud resources:
