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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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.
- itsukiyoshitom@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Itsuki Yoshitomi <szkolapodstawowanr1@neostrada.pl>
Reply-To: tracymoorr@hotmail.com
Date: Wed, 15 Jun 2011 22:01:48 +0800
Subject: Pray for Japan
Attention.
I am Mr. Itsuki Yoshitomi Head of Account Dept. Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Japan. It's sad to say, Amid the earthquake/tsunami that swept my country Japan I lost a credible customer with his entire family. My late customer left (US$21Million) in his account. My government is proposing bank account update for every account holder in my country. Any account without living heir or claimant will be sent into the Government treasury for the relief and reconstruction of the country’s devastated areas. I do not want the funds to be transferred into the Government treasury.
I am soliciting your attention to receive these funds on my behalf as everything is under my power. My purpose of contacting you is because my status would not permit me to do this alone. You have to take it very serious and contact me with all manner of sincerity.
When you reply this message, I will send you the full details about my late customer and the funds. If you are interested kindly contact me via my secured email on itsukiyoshitom@hotmail.com.
Mr. Itsuki Yoshitomi
(Head of Account Dept. Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Japan)
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Anti-fraud resources:
