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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: "Timothy Bophal" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <timothybophal2@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2014 07:43:45 +0700
Subject: Investment
Good day, I saw your profile which attracted me so much when I was searching for a good and trusted company/persons in your country.
There was an OVER-INVOICED FUNDS amounting $9.8 million floating since and was deposited in our bank since 8 years ago I resumed work as accounting /auditing department. I happened to be in control of this by his grace. I saw your information as a person I can confide and lay trust on. I humbly requesting from you if both of us can invest in your country with the money in long period. Please if you accept this do send the bellow information so we can start on the processing of this money into your account.
Your full name ....................
Your address ......................
Your country ...................
Your occupation/job ............
Your phone.....................................
Your age ........................
Regards
Timothy Bophal
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Anti-fraud resources:
