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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:
- "dearest one," (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "smithannah@cantv.net" (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: Mike Noi <mikenoi1000@gmail.com> (may be fake)
Reply-To: smithannah@cantv.net
Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2011 11:37:54 +0900
Subject: DEAREST ONE
DEAREST ONE,
My good friend,I am not happy with my secretary because for long now I did not know that you have not received the VISA CARD which I kept WITH my secretary for him to send to you but today I heard that the VISA CARD is still with him please bear with him and contact him for the VISA CARD which is under his care for long now I want you to contact my secretary Smith Annah with his Email:ID (smithannah@cantv.net) contact Tel: ask him to send you the VISA CARD sum of($2.5 Million) Two Million Five Hundred Thousand United State s Dollars , which I kept for your compensation. Contact him immediately and reconfirm your full information to avoid any mistake, I'm very busy here in Germany for now please bear with him because I am not around. FULLNAME:........ AGE:............ ADDRESS:......... PHONE:.......... COUNTRY:....
COMPANY:....... AMOUNT.........
Mike Noi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
