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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- 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.
- dr.eric_tan@dr.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Eric Tan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <dr.erictan@asia.com>
Date: Sun, 14 Sep 2014 12:24:03 -0700
Subject: GOOD DAY
Dear Friend,
Before I introduce myself, I wish to inform you that this letter is not a hoax mail and I urge you to treat it serious. I decided to contact you via an email to get us acquainted
since it is a safer way of private communication.
I am Dr.Eric Tan, A Malaysian based in London and personal account adviser/officer to a great late industrialist who has an account in one of the top banks here in London. Before I will disclose the details of this business to you, I will need your trust and assurance that you will not disappoint me either now or in the future when you receive these funds as the NEXT OF KIN and also solicit your strictest confidence in this transaction. This is by virtue of its nature as being utterly confidential.
Upon receipt of your response to this email, I will get you acquainted with every detail regarding this transaction. Kindly provide your confidential contact for easy communication and to enable us discuss more about this transaction. Here is my private email ID for easy communication (dr.eric_tan@dr.com)
I will be waiting to read from you to enable me give you more details.
Yours faithfully,
Dr. Eric Tan
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Anti-fraud resources:
