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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:
- "trunk box" (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.
Fraud email example:
From: "COL FRANK" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <col.frank@aol.com>
Date: Tue, 30 Jun 2015 18:31:06 +0200
Subject: US Military Base(Iraq)
Hi,
I am Col. Frank, am an America navy officer stationed here in Iraq. My duty ends here in few weeks time. I am in urgent need of one who is capable/trustworthy to receive my trunk box containing my personal belongings and a cash value of 8.5million usd which is my share from an oil deal. I shall reward you greatly for your assistance and if you wish to proceed you must keep this deal to yourself. I shall provide you some form of identification and detailed information when I get your positive response. So If you can handle this deal, send me your full name/ contact address/age/occupation & mobile number but if my proposal is of no interest to you delete my message and forget I every contacted you.
Col. Frank
US Military Base(Iraq)
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Anti-fraud resources:
