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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Alexander <wwww2010.1745@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: alexanderjoe@rediffmail.com
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 06:14:21 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: VERY URGENT MATTER THANKS
I am Alexander Joe. Personal attorney to late Mr. John Thomas,a foreign national and a construction engineer.I have the pleasure to contact you on this subject matter.
My late client died along with his entire family while on holiday in Asia Earth Quake Disaster (Phuket Island in Thailand on December 2004.(TSUNAMI DISASTER)
He left the sum of USD$7.5M with a bank and ever since his death,the bank has asked me to provide his next of kin.
I have the pleasure to contact you so that you will stand as his bonafide next of kin and claim this money which he left behind.
On hearing from you,I shall give you a comprehensive information's of what to do as regards to this.
Best Regards & God Bless
Alexander Joe
VERY URGENT MATTER THANKS
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Anti-fraud resources:
