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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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045778558 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "Paul Tyler" <pp.tyler@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: ptyler@HotPOP.com
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2009 11:05:30 -0500 (ECT)
Subject:
Dear Partner,
Please permit me to introduce myself; I am Paul Tyler, Head HR Department
for one of UK's leading Banks.
I possess valuable and classified information of great interest, which I
wish to share with you. I also need to ascertain your dispositions towards
receiving and utilizing information from me, which guarantees you being
legally acknowledged as the sole surviving relative (next of kin) to
Andreas Schranner.
Please click here http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/859479.stm to check
reports on His death.
You must maintain a great deal of confidentiality towards this endeavor. I
can be reached on my confidential Tel: +44 704 577 8558 should you be
interested.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Paul Tyler.
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Anti-fraud resources:
