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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:
- "top secret" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- 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.
- mrleehwangchan@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Lee Hwang-Chan" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrleehwangchan@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 16 Sep 2016 19:33:55 -0400
Subject: Grüße dich.
Grüße dich.
Dies ist eine Partnerschaft, Investitionsangebot und dringend zu SOS-Nachricht.
Mein Name ist Mr.Lee Hwang-Chan ein südkoreanischer und die persönliche Schatzmeister an Herrn Kim Woo-Choong der Gründer der insolventen Daewoo Konglomerate in South Korea.I haben eine profitable und dennoch private / vertrauliche Business-Angebot für Sie, die es wert ist mehrere Millionen US-Dollar.
Ich werde Sie alle Einzelheiten dieses Geschäfts Angebot auf Ihre positive Antwort verpflichten, aber sind Sie verpflichtet, dieses Angebot vertraulich und TOP SECRET für unsere persönliche Sicherheit zu halten, obwohl dieses Angebot legal ist.
Ich danke dir.(mrleehwangchan@gmail.com)
Mr.Lee Hwang-Chan
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Anti-fraud resources:
