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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- islandconsultant@sify.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: JOHN MARTINS <info@islandconsultant.com>
Reply-To: islandconsultant@sify.com
Date: Fri, 23 Jul 2010 17:40:34 -0400
Subject: URGENT ORDER INQUIRY
Hello Sales,
My Name is John Martins am interested in purchasing some of your products,
I will like to know if you can ship directly to Fiji Islands I also want you to
know my mode of payment for this order is via Credit Card.
Get back to me if you can ship to that destination and also if you accept the
payment type I indicated.
Kindly return this email with your price list of your products..
I await your quick response.
Kind Regards.
John Martins
Island Consultant Limited.
11 Ruve Place, Tavakubu
Lautoka, Republic of Fiji Islands
Phone: (679) 666-2787
Fax: (679) 666-3998
Email: islandconsultant@sify.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
