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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 sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- "mdemitriou7519@live.co.uk" (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: "Martino Demitriou" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mdemitriou201267@live.com>
Date: Wed, 28 Mar 2012 13:08:34 -0700
Subject: INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITY !!!......
Dear Sir/madam
I am an international investment broker with a access to clients who have private and corporate investment portfolios woth more than $100,000,000.00 (100 Million Dollars).
These clients are looking for investment opportunities and are willing to help you grow your company or fund your project with a soft loan as they are privately seeking means of expanding their portfolio globally.
If you are interested,i would like you to provide me with a comprehensive business plan for the investment team to review review and if there are interested,book a face to face meeting date .
For further details please do not hesitate to contact me below if you have any query or more clarification.
Expecting your early response to the below email: ( mdemitriou7519@live.co.uk )
sincerely
Martino Demitriou
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Anti-fraud resources:
