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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 mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447045780905 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "George Williams" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <gw.consult72@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Tue, 15 Feb 2011 19:50:55 -0800
Subject: CAN I TRUST YOU ?
FROM: George Williams (CONSULTANT)
TEL: +44-704-578-0905
FAX: +44-700-593-0911
Dear Sir,
Please pardon me for contacting you through this medium. I came across your contact while surfing the web, to that effect I desired to know you better and also would like to have a solid business relationship with you. Be so kind to contact me at your earliest convenience for a legitimate business deal.
It's not wise at this moment due to the high level of Internet scam/fraud being perpetrated around the globe. Therefore, that makes it quite difficult to know who is who. I am constrained to issue more details about this business until your response is received.
This deal is worth taking and highly profitable. Thank you for your time and attention. Call on the given number for more verbal discussion regardless the time different.
Warmest regards,
Mr. George Williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
