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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "you are advice to " (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Vincent Higgs" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <luigor0809@yahoo.cn>
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 2009 16:08:04 -0000
Subject: FINNER NOTIFICATION TO YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT
FINNER NOTIFICATION TO YOUR EMAIL ACCOUNT
This is to announce to you that your email account of our last concluded electronic online result.
Your E. account has been approved with the sum of Two Million, Five Hundred Thousand United States with ref.
Number: IT 623 PC 071 and E.Num: JJ 1109 /2009-10.
You are advice to open correspondence with the officer that will process your claims with the information below; luigor0809@yahoo.cn
Name:Luis Gregor
Phone: +393 271689755
Email: luigor0809@yahoo.cn
Provide the following info to him 1. Full name... 2. Address... 3. Occupation. 4. Tel/Fax.... 5.Age....... 6.Winning Ref Number...........
Yours truly,
Vincent Higgs
Event Manager
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Anti-fraud resources:
