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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "SEAN CARROL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <festuskeyamo101@terra.com.ve>
Date: Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:24:48 +0100
Subject: IMPORTANT INFO ALERT TO YOU.
DEAR SIR/MADAM
I AM MR. CARROL SEAN ,A REPRESENTATIVE OF THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION ON INTERNET SCAM AND WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED THAT THE DELAY OF YOUR TRANSACTION IS DUE TO AN IMPORTANT ISSUE BEING DEALT BY THE INTERNATIONAL BUREAU.
I ALSO WANT TO ADVISE YOU THAT YOU WILL GO ON LIKE THIS WITH THESE PEOPLE UNLESS YOU STOP WORKING WITH THEM,I KNOW THIS MAY SOUND STRANGE BUT TAKE THIS STEP AND SEE IF YOU DONT GET YOUR FUNDS PAID FULLY TO YOU WITHOUT STRESS.
CONTACT ME BACK AS SOON AS YOU READ THIS MAIL FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTION,YOU SHOULD SEND ALONG YOUR FULL NAMES AND PHONE NUMBER.
THANK YOU.
CARROL SEAN
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Anti-fraud resources:
