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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:
- "million pounds" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Chio Hung" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <chio_hung@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Jun 2010 13:41:32 +0100
Subject: Hello
Hello,
I am Mrs Chio Hung attorney to my late client,who died in a car crash in London with family on November 5th 2001.He left a deposit of 9.8million pounds in a bank in U.K.
I need your consent to present you as the next of kin to his estate since you are a foreigner.I have documents that would confer you the legal right to make claim.Kindly send me your telephone number so we discuss further on this transaction.
Get back to me as soon as possible for absolute confidentiality
Regards,
Chio Hung
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Anti-fraud resources:
