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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: "Sarah Johnson" <sarah_johnson2@advir.com>
Reply-To: sarah_johnson@advir.com
Date: Wed, 6 Jan 2010 19:20:15 -0000 (UTC)
Subject: Hi Counsel
Hi Counsel
My name is Sarah Johnson. I am contacting your firm in regards to a
divorce settlement with my ex husband (Paul Johnson).who resides in your
jurisdiction in USA. I am currently on assignment in Japan. We had an out
of court Agreement (Collaborative Law Agreement) for him to pay
$750,450.00 plus legal fees. He has only paid me $50,000 since the
agreement.
I am hereby seeking your firm to assist me in collecting the balance from
him... He has agreed already to pay me the balance but it is my belief
that a Law firm like yours is needed to help me collect payment from my
ex-husband Mr Paul Johnson or litigate this matter if he fails to pay as
promised.
Sincerely,
Sarah Johnson
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Anti-fraud resources:
