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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: "Mustaf" <king4@strasser-lohne.de>
Reply-To: <dan_mustaf@hotmail.co.uk>
Date: Thu, 11 Mar 2010 20:57:52 +0100
Subject: Hello Dear,
Hello Dear,
I am Mr. Dan Mustaf,
My purpose of writing to you is this: there is a business deal of £25Million that I did with one Mr. Mohammed Abdul which we agreed that he will take 30% while I take 70% now I have transferred £10Million to him and he collected the money 3days ago, he called me today and say I should go to hell that I will never see him again.
The balance of the deal which is £15million was transferred yesterday to Cairo Egypt and I have called them to stop the delivery.
I don't have any one now who can receive this £15Million in Cairo and the must difficult thing for me now is I don't trust any one any more.
But if you can be trusted reply me immediately with your name and your phone number so that we can discus before we proceed.
Mr. Mustaf
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Anti-fraud resources:
