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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 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:
- "money gram" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- "mtcn" (this will cost you money - be careful with upfront payments to anyone you only know through email, especially if they promise you a lot of money. NEVER send money by Western Union or MoneyGram to people you do not know personally - NO EXCEPTIONS! Instant wire transfer services are not meant to be used with strangers because they offer no protection against fraud. That is precisely why the criminals want you send money that way. )
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- 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.
- lindatn77@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Haiti Earthquake" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <lindatn77@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 9 Mar 2010 04:26:24 -0800
Subject: Haiti Donation
Haiti Earthquake: Thanks for your willingness of trying to help us by reading this
Email and. My name is Dr Mark Bill official member from united nations/Red cross.
Please dear one, as you can see, many have lost there life and some can not feed please do send anything that will help the IT to grow more like you and you will be bless know amount is to small or big we are going to send your names to the world book for records thanks once small dear, Please HELP US with any thing that touches you in your heart. You can drop your phone Number and wait for directive from doctor in charge. We don't mind Food. Cloth, shoes and anything you can send to help the motherless Babies and homeless windows.
PLEASE DO CONTACT US
Donate now to Mrs. Linda Dave and all payment must be made after the first three days of these mail has been sent you and information used in the payment/transfer fund in the bank.
Money gram with your MTCN Number:/BANK ACCOUNT WILL BE SENT TO YOU
Amount Donated______________________
www.ifrc.org/haiti
Please reply us back to:lindatn77@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
