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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: "MR. EDWARD WALTON" <edwalton-barclay1@gmx.com>
Reply-To: edwalton.barclay@globomail.com
Date: Sat, 7 Apr 2012 12:26:04 +0100
Subject: Reply very urgent
Compliments of the day,
We are surprised you did not receive our letter of instruction attached.
Please find attached details of the internal process information. The
attached letter are addressed to you and also made available to you only
for immediate process on your claim. They are considered HIGHLY
CONFIDENTIAL and may contain security details and information vital to your
claim. Pls keep secured.
As soon as you indicate your readiness, we will forward to you more as it
is instructed by the Joint committee.
After we have received information as requested in the attachment, we have
72hrs to process the release of the above mention claim.
Please get in touch to the contact named person (+44 7924443099) as it is
stated in the attached letter for any further information or clarifications.
Yours sincerely,
Ms. Elizabeth Matthews
=STATEMENT OF SECURITY AND CONFIDENTIALITY Email messages sent through an
open network are transmitted unencrypted and should therefore not contain
confidential information. The information contained in this electronic
message and any files transmitted with it are private and intended for the
sole use of the individual or entity to which they are addressed. If you
are not the intended recipient, please notify the sender and destroy all
copies of this message and any attachments.
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Anti-fraud resources:
