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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)
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- "raymondwoosgb@qq.com" (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: "Societe Generale Bank" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <raymondwoosgb@qq.com>
Date: Wed, 15 May 2013 23:56:13 -0700
Subject: Business Proposal
Dear Friend,
Compliment of the day to you my name is Raymond Woo Account Manager Societe Generale Bank HONG KONG,
I am contacting you to seek your partnership in a pending business project,which I have here in my hand and ready to be executed without hitches,
I would give to you a more detailed explanation of this project which I prefer to call a deal,
if I get your positive response in agreeing to partner with me since this business is 100% risk free because I have all the modalities fashioned out to give this business an excellent outcome
My email:raymondwoosgb@qq.com
Thanks
Raymond Woo
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Anti-fraud resources:
