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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "urgent assistance" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Chea Heng" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <cheaheng2@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Oct 2012 23:58:51 +0700
Subject: Best of the day
Dear Friend.
My name is Mr. Chea Heng. I got your contact email address from the internet Business directory
and decided to contact you for this transaction that is based on trust.I need your urgent assistance
in transferring the sum of ($10.5m) million to your account.
The transfer is risk free on both sides hence you are going to follow my instruction till the fund is
transfered to your account
Having gone through a methodical search,I decided to contact you hoping that you will find this
proposal interesting. Please on your confirmation of this message and on indicating your interest,
I will furnish you with more information as i get our reply.
kindest regards
Mr. Chea Heng.
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Anti-fraud resources:
