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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "remain blessed" (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mr.akamara@kimo.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: mr.akamara@kimo.com
Date: Tue, 30 Apr 2013 04:57:02 +0800
Subject: Hello
Here writes Mr.Ahmed Kamara, suffering from cancerous ailment,I write this
email to you on my sick bed facing death. I am married to am English woman
who is dead some years ago.Our life together as man and wife lasted for
three decades without child until death took her away from me. My Doctor
told me yesterday that i have limited days to live due to the cancerous
problems and i have decided to use my fund in the bank for charity.I would
like you to help me distribute the fund to the needy,orphans, destitute,
the down-trodden society.Write to my private e-mail:(mr.akamara@kimo.com)
with this secret code (xxz12ddf) ONLY IF YOU ARE INTERESTED to carry out this
task for humanity
Remain blessed
Mr. Admed Kamara.
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Anti-fraud resources:
