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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: Mariet Cisse <cissemariet75@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: ajpcm@yahoo.co.jp
Date: Tue, 18 Oct 2011 09:08:41 +0800 (SGT)
Subject: HELLO
My sincere greetings to you,
I got your contact from the internet and that is why I decided to contacted you; hence it is the cheapest way for todays communication.
The recent presidential election of November, 28th 2010 in Republic of Cote D'Ivoire which resulted civil war that just ended last month caused a lot of people to be homeless, parentless and many more.
I am 19yrs old girl and sincerely wish to inform you that I will like your assistance in investing in your country as to enable me relocate here to continue my education as the only child of my parents; I lost my father during the civil war because he was suspected to have rendered financial assistance to former president and his elites and my mother died when I was only 4years old.
Please let me know your willingness in this project so that I can furnish you with every detail needed. Mean while i have attached my picture and hoping that you will send yours in your next mail.
Sincerely,
Miss. Mariet Cisse.
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Anti-fraud resources:
