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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Montella Abbasi" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mtb141g@e-mail.ua>
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015 14:35:50 -0500
Subject: I STILL WAIT FOR YOUR RESPOND
Greetings to you!
I am making this proposal to you, in respect to my inquiry from your country business guide as a reliable person in a related area of my interest for investment. I am a civil adviser to some Top Politician in Syria, also an Oil Tycoon from Syria, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia; with the monitoring committee overseeing the winding up of the petroleum trust fund(PTF). I am planning to have a viable Investment in your country; the success of this project will depend largely on our trust and confidence to each other.
Please when replying to my e-mail kindly include your mobile telephone numbers and fax number for more details and instructions.
Thanks for your co-operation and I am waiting for your urgent reply.
Sincerely.
Engr. Montella Abbasi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
