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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:
- "there is no risk involved" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "singh_pradeep52@yahoo.in" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "P. Singh" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <singh_pradeep52@yahoo.in>
Date: Thu, 19 Dec 2013 03:46:22 +0530
Subject: I need your urgent attention and cooperation please.
Good day,
I am mr Pradeep Singh, of the Auditing and account section of the Reserve bank of India. I have a business proposal for you to stand as the next of kin to one of the inactive account which I came across, Because there is a bill that has been passed that all banks in India should find the next of kin to any inactive account and if next of kin is not found, the funds should be handed over to the government.
Please write back to me (singh_pradeep52@yahoo.in) if you are interested so I can supply you all necessary information. There is no risk involved as all communication with you is confidential.
P. Singh
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Anti-fraud resources:
