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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.
Fraud email example:
From: "Kevin Fenwicks." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fidelity.kevinfenwick@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Apr 2011 16:31:45 +0800
Subject: Anticipating to hearing from you.
Greetings,
I am a Sales Manager with Fidelity Investment UK and I handle all our Investor's
Capital
Project Funds that enables me to divert 1.2% Investors Excess Return Capital
Funds to our
Magellan Trust Funds Account whereby anyone can be presented to claim the funds.
On this
note, the total sum of GBP18M (POUNDS) has been diverted representing the 1.2%
Excess
Return Capital Funds from the Investor Capital Project Funds for 2005/2006.
I need a reliable and trustworthy person that can work this deal out with me so
that we can
claim the funds as mentioned above. There is no risk attached and the funds in
question can
never be dictated or traced. Our sharing ratio is 50: 50.If you are interested,
I am counting on your sense of confidentiality, as it is my desire that you keep
this
business to yourself.
Anticipating to hearing from you.
Best Regards,
Kevin Fenwicks
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Anti-fraud resources:
