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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:
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "ABSA Admin." <info@admin.com>
Reply-To: david_hayes31@aol.com
Date: Mon, 15 Jul 2013 14:52:53 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: Info.
Good day.
I am David Hayes an operational manager with one of the major banks
here in South Africa, I want to use this opportunity to inform you
that we had a very good business relationship with the Gaddafi’s
family and they were major transactions that I did for them as an
employee of this bank. Late Col. Muammar Gaddafi was brutally
murdered by the National Transitional Council's fighters in his birth
place of Sirte.
I need your urgent assistance regarding a safe investment which I would
want you to handle.The link below may explain further.
http://za.news.yahoo.com/south-africa-investigates-libyan-claims-stashed-gaddafi-assets-125830076.html
Please note that this proposal is legit and risk free. If interested
reply for further details .
Regards
David Hayes
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Anti-fraud resources:
