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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:
- "courier company" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- "awexpresscourier@yahoo.cn" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Promo" <info@admin.com>
Reply-To: awexpresscourier@yahoo.cn
Date: Fri, 21 Sep 2012 00:52:35 +0100
Subject: Grand Prize Winner..
Greetings! We the Nokia UK Mobile Promo Administrators discovered that your unclaimed winning bank draft which valued at the total sum of £250,000.00 GBP is still with the courier company in charge of delivering your winnings to you.Please do Endeavor to make contact via email for claims within 3 working days of this notice for the immediate processing and remission of your unclaimed parcel to avoid a possible and imminent Gaming board confiscation of your unclaimed funds,with your full contact details.Dispatch officer:MR TIMOTHY WARNER(CHIEF DISPATCH OFFICER FOR: A.W EXPRESS COURIER)Private email:awexpresscourier@yahoo.cn
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Anti-fraud resources:
