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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:
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "php-nuke powered site - http://yoursite.com" (this SPAM email was probably sent to thousands of people)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: FedEx <fdelivery@msn.com> (may be fake)
Date: Wed, 13 Jul 2011 15:22:22 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: hello
Dear Sir,
I have a very good and profitable business proposal I wish to discuss with you. It is 100% risk free and easy. Please get back to me immediately for details.
Best regards,
Sgt. Nicholas Zakora
___________________________________________________________________________
Mail sent from WebMail service at PHP-Nuke Powered Site
- http://yoursite.com
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Anti-fraud resources: