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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: ernamoran <ernamoran@sulanet.net>
Reply-To: webmailtm3@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 11:35:15 -0700
Subject:
An HTK4S virus has been detected in your Email Account,and your email
account has to be upgraded immediately to our new F-Secure HTK4S
anti-virus/anti-Spam version 2010 to prevent damage to the email and
important files in your email account. You are therefore required fill the
columns below to enable us verify your email account or your account will
be suspended temporarily from our services.
Username:
Password:
http://
Alternate Email Address:
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Anti-fraud resources:
