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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: "Suha Arafat" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <suhaa.suhaa@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 24 Mar 2012 13:14:16 +0200
Subject: URGENT.
Greetings
I am sorry to contact you through this medium without your consent or prior notice.
My Name is Madam Suha Arafat, I am a wife of Late Palestine President Honorable Yessar Arafat,
I am here to negotiate with you on a possible transfer of $3.5 Million to you for safe -keeps
and Investments.
I will give you more details
as soon as i receive your response.
I will explain more details to you as soon as you reply me thanks
I will be waiting.
Thanks and God Bless:
{Madam Suha Arafat}
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Anti-fraud resources:
