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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.
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
- 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.
- rinaldi.garcia@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "PARTNER" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2010 07:10:44 -0800
Subject: PARTNER
Sir/Madam,
I am Rinaldi Garcia, a solicitor at law, seeking for a trustee/ beneficiary as a next of kin to my late client who was a civil Engineer and a contractor here in Spain .
He died with his immediate family during Tsunami Catastrophe which occurred in Indonesia December 2004.
For further clarifications, email: rinaldi.garcia@gmail.com or call +34-656 377 967
Rgds.
Rinaldi Garcia.
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Anti-fraud resources:
