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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:
- "han_quan07@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: "Han Quan" <han.quan01@boc.com>
Reply-To: han_quan07@live.com
Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2011 16:38:47 +0800
Subject: Get Back To Me ASAP!!!
Hello,
Compliments of the day to you and I believe all is well. My name is Mr. Han
Quan and I work in bank of china. I have a transaction that I believe will be
of mutual benefits to both of us. It involves an investment portfolio in our
organization which I like to acquire with your help and assistance. This will
be executed under a legitimate arrangement that will protect you from any
breach of the law and you will be compensated adequately according to agreed
commissions.
Please get back to me immediately if you are interested to this email
han_quan07@live.com so that we can commence discussion.
Yours sincerely,
Han.
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Anti-fraud resources:
