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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:
- "million us dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "A. Collier" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <collieralll@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 4 Feb 2012 06:31:05 -0000
Subject: Re: Info
I am Alan Collier, treasurer to Mikhail Khodorkovsky the Richest man in Russia and owner of the following companies: Chairman CEO: YUKOS OIL (Russian Largest Oil Company) Chairman CEO:Menatep SBP Bank (A well reputable financial institution with its Branches all over the world, Kindly visit bellow Website for more details.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4482203.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4360688.stm
I want to reprofile the total sum of 226 Million US Dollars to your country for immediate investment. We shall be considering several sectors with our main focus on Property Development, Loan and Equity Financing for small and medium sized companies. We want to register a new company for this purpose and have a citizen as one of its directors/partners and this is why my employer has asked me to contact you so we can appoint you as one of our directors and you will be rewarded with 5% of the total sum for your assistance .you should reply me on this email address for me to give you more details.
Best Regards,
Mr. Alan Collier
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Anti-fraud resources:
