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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- 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.
- inforegistraroffice@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
- contact the secretary office directly via email: inforegistraroffice@aim.com we look forward to see you there! warm regards, dr. jenifer (Aim; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: jeniferoliver9@gmail.com
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 2015 09:41:18 +0100
Subject: U.S Conference Invitation Call
Dear Sir/Madam,
The 2015 Conference Committee would like to cordially invite you to attend
the 2015 Annual Educational Conference Meeting on Women and Children
Trafficking, Political Crisis, Human Violence & Global Security. The 2015
Annual Educational Conference Meeting will be taking place from October
27th – 31st 2015 in Texas United States.
The organizing committee is responsible for all visa arrangements to the
United States, free economic air round trip tickets. Registration is open
and free to all interested participants. The interested participants are to
contact the Secretary Office directly via email: inforegistraroffice@aim.com
We look forward to see you there!
Warm Regards,
Dr. Jenifer Oliver
Human Right Activist Department
E-mail: jeniferoliver9@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
