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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: "Jeffrey Skoll" <pharmazie@uni-heidelberg.de>
Reply-To: jeff.skoll@skollcharity.org
Date: Wed, 25 May 2016 21:11:57 -0500
Subject: Donation for You
Hi,
I am Jeffrey Skoll, a philanthropist and the founder of one of the largest private foundations in the world. My motto is giving while living and I always had the idea that never changed in my mind, that wealth should be used to help people and I have decided to give USD1.924.108.00 to you. This email address was selected online randomly while searching, kindly respond to this message so I know I reached a valid email to disclose further information.
Visit the webpage to know more about me: http://alumni.utoronto.ca/uoft-news/alumni-in-the-news/the-canadian-billionaire-whos-giving-it-all-away/ OR http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2003-11-30/jeffrey-skoll-why-delay-give-it-away
Regards,
Jeffrey Skoll.
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Anti-fraud resources:
