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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: "Miss Sarah." <coltechcoltd@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: sarah.soro@ymail.com
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 16:00:47 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: I SEEK YOUR PERMISSION.
I SEEK YOUR PERMISSION.
Dearest, I am Miss Sarah Soro Durham, am 20 years old from Ivory Coast. The Only child/Daughter of Mrs Helen Soro Durham. I have $4.5 million USD which was left for me by my mother before she died in Oct 2008 which is left in bank here in my country.
I seek your permission to remit this amount to your country so that I could come to your country for investment and to further my Education.I have accepted to offer you 20% of the total sum for your desire to assist me and any expensis that you might incure in the process of the Transfer. Please do respond immediately you receive this mail for more information regarding to my fund inheritance.
Please contact me for more Details.
My God almighty bless you.
Miss Sara Soro.
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Anti-fraud resources:
