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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a company representative scam. This type of job offer scam involves the cashing of fake checks and money orders. It could expose you to losses of tens of thousands of dollars as well as to the risk of criminal prosecution and (in some cases) imprisonment.
Fraud email example:
From: "PETER DANIEL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <peterdaniel@blumail.org>
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 13:13:02 -0700
Subject: REPRESENTATIVE NEEDED
Hello dear,
My name is Peter Daniel, a designer and also the Manager of Peter Daniel Fabric and Consultant and I live and work here in United Kingdom, Would you like to work online from home and get paid without affecting your present job?
Actually I need a representative who can be working for the company as online book-keeper. We make lots of supplies to some of our clients in the USA/CANADA/EUROPE, for which I do come to USA/CANADA/EUROPE to receive payment and have it cashed after I supply them raw materials. It`s always too expensive and stressful for me to come down and receive such payment twice in a month so I therefore decided to contact you.
I am willing to pay you 10% for every payment receive by you from our clients who makes payment through you. Please note you don't have to be a book keeper to apply for the job.
Kindly get back to me as soon as possible if you are interested in this job offer with the following details:
FULL NAMES...................
ADDRESS (not p.o.box)...
PROOF OF ADDRESS (UTILITY BILL)
PERSONAL IDENTIFICATION (DRIVERS LICENCE OR INERNATIONAL PASSPORT)
STATE..................
ZIPCODE................
COUNTRY................
PHONE NUMBER(S)........
GENDER.................
AGE....................
OCCUPATION.............
I await your urgent reply.
Yours Faithfully,
Peter Daniel
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Anti-fraud resources:
