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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "a security company " (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. Never ever send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally. )
- "million united states 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)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned 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.
- mrsalicew1@centrum.sk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "mrs.alicew8 Gazeta.pl" <mrs.alicew8@gazeta.pl>
Date: Sun, 29 Jun 2008 20:27:07 +0000
Subject: From; Mrs Alice williams;
From; Mrs Alice williams;
Hello Dear,
My name is Alice williams,The wife of Mr.joseph williams a senator during
president charls Taylor regime in Liberia.who is receently killed in
Liberia.
During my husband's regime as a senator,I realized some reasonable amount of
money from various deals that I successfully executed.
Well before my late husband was killed,I secretly put in a box the sum of
$17,000,000 million USD (Seventeen million United states dollars) and
deposit it in a security company abroad.
I am contacting you because I want you to help me in securing the money for
the future of my children since my late husband family's members now monitor
all my movement.
I hope to trust you as who will not sit on this money when you claim it.i
will give you 15% of the total money for your assistance.if you are willing
to help me,then reply me through this my private email address(
mrsalicew1@centrum.sk)
Best regards
Mrs Alice Williams.
Anti-fraud resources: