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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 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.
- captferguson@rediffmail.com (Rediffmail, India; can be used from anywhere worldwide)
Fraud email example:
From: "Capt Roland Ferguson" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <captferguson@rediffmail.com>
Date: Sat, 13 Nov 2010 06:57:20 +0100
Subject: This is my third and final mail.
Hello,
I am Army Capt.Roland Ferguson in the Engineering military unit here in
Ba'qubah in Iraq cleaning up after the war as well as protecting lives and
property from the hands of terrorists/Al Qaeda network, anyway my main reason of
contacting you is that my colleagues and I moved some funds found in Saddam
Hussien dug-house worth waiting for the perfect time to move out the funds from
Iraq, now we have information that our battalion will be pulling out of Iraq
next month, so we believe this is the right time to move the cash out of Iraq.
See Link:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
Hence I am seeking for your assistance to assist us to receive the cash on our
behalf.I will send more information to you about the way forward once I hear
back from you.
Contact me on this email address: captferguson@rediffmail.com
Yours truly.
Capt Roland Ferguson
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Anti-fraud resources:
