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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 message is a next of kin scam.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: John Beckley <johnbeckley1960@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2012 12:08:56 -0700 (PDT)
Subject: RE:WAITING FOR YOUR RESPONSE
Hello,
I am John Beckley an attorney to the late Mr. Mark, who died in a car crash with his family in London on November 5th 2007 and left behind a deposit of (GBP9.8million) here in a bank and I hereby seek your consent to present you as the next of kin since you have the same last name and I have the documents that would confer you the legal right for the claim. Please contact me via my details below and send to me your telephone and fax numbers to enable us discuss further on this transaction which will be done legally and risk free.
Best Regards,
John Beckley
Phone: +447425814760
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Anti-fraud resources:
