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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:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- "barr." (Barristers (lawyers) mentioned in 419 scams are always fake.)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Alfred Martins <kamil.skrzypek@neostrada.pl>
Reply-To: mralfredmartines@talsos.lv
Date: Tue, 31 Aug 2010 13:07:51 +0800
Subject: CONFIDENTIAL
Mr. Alfred Martins.Esq
Alfred Martins & Co Associates
Level 3 Wisma Pejarian
No. 15 Lot 2125 Kampung
Lalang 51100 Selangor Darul Ehsan
Tel : 60-1-0205-7089
Fax :60-3-2178-4074
I am Alfred Martins, an attorney at law, A deceased client of mine that shares
the same last name as yours died as the result of a heart-related condition on
March 12th 2005. His heart condition was due to the death of all the members of
his family in the tsunami disaster on the 26th December 2004 in Sumatra
Indonesia. And in the record there is no known successor to this deposit of the
deceased who died without a will.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Indian_Ocean_earthquake.
My late Client has a deposit of Seventeen Million Five hundred Thousand Dollars
(17.5 Million dollars) left behind.
Reply for more information.
Sincerely yours.
Barr.Alfred Martins
(Attorney at Law)
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Anti-fraud resources:
