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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.
- mrsitwell2014@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "ECOWAS HIGH COURT" <jaguilar@molicor.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: skycustomerservicess@hotmail.com
Date: Tue, 28 Jan 2014 05:38:32 -0500
Subject: Urgent Attention
Attn: Dear,
I am contacting you now based on the decision of the Senate Committee on
foreign contract payment and the debt buy back agreement reached with the
Central Bank.
Since it has been observed that the reason your payment has been delayed
for years now is due to the selective payment system going on in the CBN,
and to put a stop to that, the Senate Committee on foreign payment has
recommended that all payments should be paid out based on the National
Budget of this fiscal year 2014.
You are to get the payment instructions and modalities of payment from us
once we receive your full name and contact address, phone and fax number.
Kindly contact Mr.Alexander Wilmot-sitwell (mrsitwell2014@hotmail.com)
send your full name and address with phone number to him for him to
contact you.
Regards,
Mr Robert Kurtz
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Anti-fraud resources:
