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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found 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: Helen Ekenta <mekenta11@yahoo.com.ph>
Reply-To: Helen Ekenta <un.carman@yahoo.co.uk>
Date: Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:58:37 +0800 (SGT)
Subject:
Dear Friend,
I am Mrs. Ekenta Helen secretary to the director foreign debt
management, your payment files has been laying here for many months
now and nobody has ever told you the truth, the reason why you have
not received your fund with Federal Republic of Nigeria .
When I was going through your payment files this afternoon, you have not even
received a cent. All the top officials both men and women keep on
exploiting your hard earned money without telling you the truth. I
don’t want to go far yet
My question is this, are you still interested in receiving at least
part of your over due payment? Just let me know and further details
will be communicated to you accordingly.
Mrs.Ekenta Helen
Secretary to the director
Foreign Debt management
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Anti-fraud resources:
