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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "will come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mrahmedusman3@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. AHMED USMAN" <mrahmedusman6@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mrahmedusman3@gmail.com
Date: Sun, 02 Nov 2014 08:12:13 +0000
Subject: LETTER OF ASSISTANCE
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Attention: Friend,
I know this letter will come to you as a surprise knowing that we have
not meet each other face to face. My name are Ahmed Usman the personal
assistance to President Hosni Mubarak formal president of Egypt who
resigned from office after eighteen days of mass protects by the
people of Egypt.
My reason of contacting you is that I want to set up a business
venture oversea and I am looking for a trustworthy person that will
help me set up the business and I don?t want my name to be used in the
setting up of the business. And after my search for a credible and trust
worthy person to help me I decided to contact you.
Please kindly confirm your willingness to help me so that I will
forward all the details in respect to this project to you. Do reply to
my private email which is mrahmedusman3@gmail.com
Thanks and remain bless,
Ahmed Usman.
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Anti-fraud resources:
