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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: "John Warren" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jo-warren@live.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Aug 2009 19:59:12 +0100
Subject: Re: Investement Proposal For You
Dear Sir,
RE: INVESTMENT PROPOSAL
We are a Pioneer Investment Consultation Firm and are situated in Scotland , in the United Kingdom . We specialize in searching for potential investments for our high net-worth clients worldwide.
Our visualization is based upon securing and safe guarding our client’s interests in order to achieve the maximum return on their investments.
We have recently received a request from one of our client based in Egypt . They are currently looking for a profitable project to invest funds into that will generate a substantial profit.
We have examined your company’s profile and consider you to fit our criteria provisionally.
Should this be of interest to you, please do not hesitate to e-mail us for further information.
We take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to read the contents of this email.
Kind regards,
John Warren
Kenny And Kent
CONSULTANT
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Anti-fraud resources:
