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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: Mr Smith Lee <smithlee675@yahoo.com.my>
Date: Thu, 11 Apr 2013 09:32:46 -0430 (VET)
Subject: GREETINGS
My name is Mr Smith Lee from Malaysia. Some years back I made some investment in the United states and Canada through an investment agent and it has yielded some interest.
I have asked that the proceeds of the investment be transferred to me so I could inject the funds into the family business here in Malaysia and take good care of my Health.
But I was told by my contact, that due to the prevalent economic meltdown they have a new policy not to transfer funds out of North America for now.
So I was told to provide somebody to receive the money on my behalf and make and onward transfer to me since my present health condition will not permit me to travel long distance for now as advised by my doctor.
PLEASE NOTE, I AM NOT ASKING ANY MONEY FROM YOU NEITHER AM I ASKING YOU TO SPEND A CENT FROM YOUR POCKET TO GET THIS DONE. ALSO I WANT YOU TO KNOW THAT YOU ARE NOT DOING THIS FOR NOTHING, 13% OF THE TOTAL MONEY WILL BE FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE.
Let me know if you can handle this so that I forward you the information of the contact so that you make arrangement on how to receive the funds.
Hope to hear from you soon.
Regards,
Mr Smith Lee
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Anti-fraud resources:
