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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. suzanne Mubarak" <sussymub111@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: tutumulove@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2011 20:45:52 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: Dear Friend,
Dear Friend,
My name is Mrs. Suzanna Mubarak wife of deposed president of Egypt. I have the mandate of my husband to communicate you for a possible funds transfer.
Following the 18 days civil unrest that forced my husband President Hosni Mubarak out of power I wish to use this medium to seek your assistance to move /secure part of our family treasure of a total sum of 150million in united state dollars which we managed to moved out of Egypt to abroad in the verge of the Unrest.
Should you be able to take this advantage to assist us to claim these funds , you shall be rewarded handsomely.
Indicate your willingness to this offer by communicating me via this email as all our telephone lines are monitored which email communication will be the best for now.
Thanks for your anticipated response to this offer.
Mrs. Suzanne Mubarak.
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Anti-fraud resources:
