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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- barralvaromartintalavera@hotmail.com (Hotmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: =?UTF-8?B?w4FsdmFybyBNYXJ0w61uIFRhbGF2ZXJh?= <alvaromartintalavera@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:19:59 +0100
Subject:
Dear Sir,
I contacted you due to your little similarity in name with my late client,
who died along with his wife and daughter in a ghastly rail accident
without a disclosed relative, i contacted you to present you as his next of
kin to his left over funds at the bank worth â¬12.500.000.00 (Twelve
Million, Five Hundred Thousand Euro). Kindly contact my private email
address ( barralvaromartintalavera@hotmail.com ) for further details.
Thanks in anticipation for your honest co-operations.
Barr. Ãlvaro MartÃn Talavera Esq.
Gómez-Acebo & Pombo Abogados
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Anti-fraud resources: