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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: Malika Abely <malikaabel@aol.fr>
Reply-To: Malika Abely <malikaabely@yahoo.com>
Date: Thu, 16 Jul 2015 07:18:10 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Cry For Help
A compliment to you and your family. I am sorry for bagging into your privacy. My name is Malika Abely am 21 years old and my younger brother Peter Abely 15 years old we are from African. Please we are using this medium to ask for your co-operation to help us invest in your country.
We are seeking for your assistance to retrieval our inherited fund from the Security‎ services Company to your country for investment because we are orphans and the amount we are talking about is (Ten Million Five Hundred Thousand United State), $10.5m. Which we intend investing in any lucrative business venture of your choice, for the mutual benefits of both of us. Our late father kept it at Private Security‎ services Company here as Family Property.
We shall be glad and happy to continue our education in your country. We await your response.
Thanks.
Malika and Peter.
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Anti-fraud resources:
