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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: WEBSTER STEVENER <steven.alexander7@btinternet.com>
Reply-To: websterstevenalexander@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thu, 20 May 2010 17:27:24 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: GET BACK TO ME
My Name is Alex Steven and I am a boy of 23 years, please I want someone who can take me along to his country and train me to finish my education level but before my fathers death he leave the sum of $2.3M on my name and the bank are asking me to come over as the fund has been long? please I need some one to trust whom I can come as my beneficiary by which I will write an authorization letter to the bank to transfer the said fund to you and after you receive it , you can help me come over to your country to continue with my education.
My father and mother died in a fatal accident leaving only me behind to this world and my uncle is maltreating me ever since I loose my parents because am not his son please I need your help because I don’t want to die now.
I will wait your response then I can tell my family lawyer to help me for the bank to get this fund transferred to you but promise me that you will not disappoint me.
I wait your response.
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Anti-fraud resources:
