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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:
- "united state dollar" (this email uses bad English)
- "liberia" (a location commonly mentioned 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: "Miss Favor" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <opongafavor@live.fr>
Date: Thu, 28 Jul 2011 14:47:06 +0100
Subject: From Favor.
Hi,
Good morning, may the blessing and peace be with you all the days of your life, my name is oponga favor i am a refugee in burkinafaso in west african am i found my self here as a result of civil war in my country Liberia please am seeking for a good Friend,love one, as am alone in my life today do to the civil war that took away the life of my family and left me alone things have never been easy for me here since i came this place the suffering is much to me am planing on how to relocate to any possibly country to start a new life am asking for you kind heart help please be touched to receive me in your country though i have an inheritance (Estate) from my late beloved daddy which we will transfer in my arrival in your country the amount is 16.6Million (sixteen million six hundred thousand united state dollar) i will give you information of this when i arrival in your country but please this is my secret please keep it for yourself only till when i come.
Hoping to hear from you today.
Miss Favor.
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Anti-fraud resources:
