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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.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- +447035960791 (UK, redirects to a mobile phone in another country)
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr Alex Peters" <aalexpeters11@gmail.com>
Reply-To: <allexpeters@yahoo.com.ph>
Date: Sun, 22 Jan 2012 09:01:44 -0600
Subject: HI
Hello,
I am Dr Alex Peters, a Senior Accountant/London-based private wealth manager
working for Col. Muammar Gaddafi who was killed by the Libya National
Transitional Council (NTC) in an 8-month civil war. I manage most of
his private
assets in United Kingdom, due to the civil war in Libya which escalate
that the
government of United Kingdom wants to freeze Col. Muammar Gaddafi's
assets here.
Then as his private wealth manager, I was in position £55m which was the money
gotten from our last oil deal before his death and I want to use my influence
and position to remit the sum of £35m (Thirty Five Million Great
British Pounds)
to your account. I will obtain all the legal approvals of this fund to make it
possible to your nominated account. I will give you the mode of operation upon
your swift
response,
regard
Dr Alex Peters
+447035960791
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Anti-fraud resources:
