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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Helen White <helenwhitelt@gmail.com>
Reply-To: helenwhitelt@voila.fr
Date: Thu, 31 Mar 2011 14:52:51 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: PLEASE REPLY ME SOON
Dear Friend,My name is 2nd LT.Helen White , a member of the U.S. army Medical Team, which was deployed to Iraq at the beginning of the war in Iraq.
I would hold back certain information for security reasons for now until you have found time to visit the BBC website stated below to enable you have an insight into what I intend sharing with you.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
Get back to me having visited the above website to enable us discuss in a more clarifying manner to the best of your understanding.
Thanks,
Best Regards
2nd Lt.Helen white.
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Anti-fraud resources:
