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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:
- "% commission" (Beware of any scheme that involves depositing checks or money orders or receiving wire transfers in your bank account and then wiring a portion of the funds somewhere, for a percentage of 5-15% of the total. Such offers are *always* fraudulent and you will be liable for the entire amount when the checks, money orders or wire transfers turn out to be fraudulent. Any money already forwarded comes out of *your* pocket then. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: PETER GURU <pet_guruagency@hotmail.com>
Reply-To: <peterguruagency@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 13 May 2014 06:03:25 +0000
Subject: WE ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR PRODUCTS
DEAR SUPPLIERS,
WE ARE INTERESTED IN YOUR PRODUCTS and to do business with you.or your company let us know if you can handle this supply as order company's, your product is need here in Ghana West Africa By Economic Community Of West African States 2014/2015 Projects( ECOWAS) and we also need your product list and specification including the price.
OUR PAYMENT TERMS;ECOWAS Ghana mode of payment is only through Telegraphic Bank Transfer confirmed in any bank of your choice and My benefit of introducing this business to your company is based on my 2% commission which you have to pay to my company after the contract is awarded to your company and after you receive your 100% invoice value.
HAVE A NICE DAY PETER GURU AGENT
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Anti-fraud resources:
