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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 us 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)
- "ahmeed501@w.cn" (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: " AHMEED AL SHERIFF" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ahmeed501@w.cn>
Date: Mon, 4 Jul 2011 06:28:23 +0530
Subject: REPLY ASAP
My name is Ahmed; I used to be a student of the University of Alexandria, Egypt. I am Egyptian by nationality. Due to the recent uprising, my father who used to be a government advicer of the regime of Hosni Mubarak was also detained amongst other's as the president was ousted.
I write to seek your assistance in investing the sum of 1.4 million US dollars from one of my father's domiciliary account he disclosed to me pending when I would make arrangements to meet you in person. The details of how the said funds would be transferred would be made known to you if I can get your total trust and your interest to help me. Kindly provide me your contact details.
You can reply me through my e-mail: ahmeed501@w.cn
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Anti-fraud resources:
