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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.
- lesmolefe3@gmail.com (Gmail/GoogleMail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
- the attached message from 'engr. leslie molefe' () was determined by the spam (Gmail; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Engr. Leslie Molefe" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <les1molefe@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2015 14:04:14 +0200
Subject: Consent
------25067558_060105_1439035461848
Content-Transfer-Encoding:7bit
Content-Type:text/plain
The attached message from "Engr. Leslie Molefe" <lesmolefe3@gmail.com> (<lesmolefe3@gmail.com>)
was determined by the Spam Blocker to be spam based on a score
of 17.8 where anything above 4.3 is spam.
------25067558_060105_1439035461848
Content-Transfer-Encoding:7bit
Content-Type:message/rfc822
Content-Disposition:inline
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Reply-To: <les1molefe@gmail.com>
From: "Engr. Leslie Molefe"<lesmolefe3@gmail.com>
Subject: Consent
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2015 14:04:14 +0200
MIME-Version: 1.0
X-Priority: 3
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2600.0000
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2600.0000
Content-Type: text/plain;
charset="Windows-1251"
Dear Friend,
I am Engineer Leslie Molefe, Projects Supervisor under South African Ministry of Minerals and Energy Resources. I am making this contact with you based on the committees need for an individual / company who is willing to assist us with a solution to an overdue contract Claim.
If you feel this may be of interest, write me back on my private e-mail for more details and clarification.
On receipt of your response, I will forward to you further information which will give you a clearer overview of this opportunity.
Yours faithfully,
Engr. Leslie Molefe
------25067558_060105_1439035461848--
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Anti-fraud resources: