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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: Michael Cohen <greatest23@cantv.net>
Reply-To: call4cohen@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2014 05:55:09 -0430 (VET)
Subject: Good day,
Good day,
I am Michael Cohen the only son of late Mr and Mrs Serge Cohen from SIRREA LEOANE. I am 22years old. I have a proposal for you which I am sure will gain your interest. I have contacted you to assist me in distributing the money left behind by my late father; this money is lodged in the bank here in Republic of Benin. Please get back to me to enable me give you further details about my proposal.
I await your email.
Thank you,
Michael Cohen.
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Anti-fraud resources:
