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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- ",000,000" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- 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.
- gillianbayford@pisem.net (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Gillian & Adrian Bayford" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gillianbayford@pisem.net>
Date: Thu, 1 May 2014 10:01:10 -0700
Subject: Donation!!!
This is a personal mail directed to you. My wife and I won 148.6m in the
Euro Millions jackpot in August 2012 and have voluntarily decided to
donate 1,000,000..00 GBP to you as part of our own charity project to
improve the life of 10 lucky individuals all over the world.If you have
received this email please do not delete it and it is not by mistake
because you are one of the lucky recipients, get back to us with your
details so that we can forward it to the payout bank who will transfer
your own part of the donation to you.
You can verify this by visiting the web pages below.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/aug/14/british-euromillions-jackpot-winners-revealed
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-19254228
For the purpose of confidentiality and to claim your prize, reply via
this email :gillianbayford@pisem.net
Yours Sincerely,
Gillian & Adrian Bayford
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Anti-fraud resources:
