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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:
- "nicole_pfertzel@hotmail.be" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Nicole PFERTZEL" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <nicole_pfertzel@hotmail.be>
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 23:58:26 +0100
Subject: Bonjour
Bonjour
Je me nomme Mme Nicole PFERTZEL, je suis mariee a Mr CARLOS McCallum de nationalite Canadienne ingenieur consultant en republique du Benin pendant 9 ans decede suite a un bref maladie. J'envisage de faire une donation des biens de mon mari car je suis malade et mon docteur m’a dit que je ne survivrais plus longtemps. Il dispose de 2.500.000 euros qu’il avait garde pour un projet. Je serai gree de vous donner cet argent qui pourra vous aider dans vos projet, je vous prie d'accepter cela car c'est un don que je vous fait et cela sans rien demander en retour. Contactez-moi des que possible si vous etes d'accord pour mon offre tout en me laissant vos coordonnees.
Mme Nicole PFERTZEL,
Email : nicole_pfertzel@hotmail.be
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Anti-fraud resources:
