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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: Luo Nicholas <luonicholas@aol.com>
Reply-To: luo.dnicholas@hotmail.com
Date: Thu, 8 Apr 2010 01:55:33 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: Good Day
My name is Luo Nicholas. I am a contacting your firm in regards to a divorce settlement with my Ex. I am currently on assignment in Japan. We had an out of court agreement for her to pay me, plus legal fees. She has only paid half the amount. I am hereby seeking your firm to represent me in collecting the balance from her. I look forward to your prompt response.
Sincerely,
Luo Nicholas.
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Anti-fraud resources:
