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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:
- "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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Roger Stephen" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <rogerstephen1@outlook.com>
Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2016 00:18:03 -0700
Subject: Dear Friend
Dear Friend,
My name is Roger Stephen Lansdowne the Assistant Director Rix Petroleum Scotland Ltd. UK. Please I have a lucrative business I will like to execute
with you and I wish to solicit your partnership. Due to the rate of illegal businesses on the net, people including myself have become sceptical to
foreign partnership but I want to assure you from the bottom of my heart that this particular business is absolutely different from what you may
think of and I need your kind cooperation and attention before I can fully explain in details.
I will send you the details when I receive your response.
Best Regards,
Roger Stephen
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Anti-fraud resources:
