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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: 67.78.scanner
Reply-To: edward.alvin2015@yandex.com
Date: Fri, 06 Mar 2015 03:38:34 -0500
Subject: Hello
From: Alvin Edward,
My Name is Alvin Edward. I work at the Presidency Federal Republic of Nigeria as a driver in the Accounts Section. I am having a problem involving transfer of cash from Nigeria amounting to Nineteen Million (US) being proceeds from some contract deals. For security reasons I would only deal with whom am sure is ready and knows how to do offshore business which is the reason I contacted you.
Please acknowledge receipt and preferably interest in this.
I will Appreciate Your Ability to Handle This Project without hitches. If You can come over in Person better, if not then We will plan and agree on ways to move the Funds to You.
shall give You Details when you Reply.
Regards,
Alvin Edward
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Anti-fraud resources:
