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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.
- secretary.infodesk@aim.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: " Dr.Eva Christoffel" <everluis@netgate.com.uy>
Reply-To: secretary.infodesk@aim.com
Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2016 22:01:30 +0100
Subject: International Symposium Event
--
Dear Sir/Madam
Warm greetings from Socio Economic Development International! We are
pleased to invite you to attend an international symposium event
scheduled to take place in the month of October 24th to 31st, 2016 in
the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The international symposium event
topics are socio economic development and migrant crisis related to the
issues of challenges to economic growth as it affects our communities
and our social lives.
The sponsors of the symposium event will cover the cost of your
round-trip air tickets from your country to Amsterdam and back to your
country and we shall also provide assistance for your visa documents
processing with the Netherlands embassy in your country to attend the
symposium event. You are to contact the event secretary desk to receive
registration application forms and more information to apply for the
symposium event.
Secretary Desk
secretary.infodesk@aim.com
I'm looking forward to your honorable presence at the symposium venue,
Warm Regards
Dr.Eva Christoffel
Program Assistant
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Anti-fraud resources: