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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:
- "verasheldon1@live.com" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "VERA SHELDON" <veresheldon1@email.com>
Reply-To: verasheldon1@live.com
Date: 5 May 2010 03:20:43 -0400
Subject: Waiting to hear from you soon
Dearest,
How was your night over there in your country and the day,i believe you
had a nice night and that the athmosphere over there in your country is
very nice today? Mine was a little bit warm over here in Oru refugee camp in
Nigeria.
My name is Vera Sheldon and i am (19yrs) but age doesn't matter in a
real relationship,so i am confortable with your age,I am looking for someone
who can take me as a friend or anything. I promise to be obedient to you
and I will bring happiness to your life which i will tell you more in my
next mail.I am in
Nigeria currently,I lost my parents and i am the only one alive now
and I have been living under a Revrend
father's care with his family and i am using his computer to send
these message to you.
I would like to know more about you.Your likes and dislikes,your
hobbies and what you are doing
presently.I will tell you more about myself in my next mail.Attached here
is my picture.Please
kindly contact me only on my personal email:
verasheldon1@live.com
Hoping to hear from you soonest
Yours forever
Vera
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Anti-fraud resources:
