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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:
- "sgtkemal@r7.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: "SGT. Mustafa Kemal" <udodi@mynet.com>
Reply-To: sgtkemal@r7.com
Date: Wed, 8 May 2013 09:48:32 -0000
Subject: Important Letter
Hello,
I know you would
be surprised to
read from someone
relatively unknown
to you before, not
under minding the
medium this email
came to you; this
is for security
and privacy
purposes, forgive
me for reaching
you through this
secured
server"postmaster"
set up personally
by me. I'm SGT
Mustafa Kemal, a
member of NATO –
ISAF troop
presently in
Afghanistan.
I would like to
share some highly
personal
classified
information about
my personal
experience and
role which I
played in the
pursuit of my
career serving
under the NATO –
ISAF which was at
the fore-front of
the war in Iraq
now stationed in
Afghanistan –
Kandahar. Though,
I would like to
hold back certain
information for
security reasons
for now until you
have find the time
to visit the BBC
websites stated
below to enable
you have insight
as to what I'm
intending to share
with you,
believing that it
would be of your
desired interest
one way or the
other.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2988455.stm
I will implore you
to get back to me
after you have
visited the above
link to enable us
discuss in
details. I must
say that I'm very
uncomfortable
sending this
message to you
without knowing
truly if you would
misunderstand the
importance and
decides to go
public.
Send me a mail
confirming you
have visited the
site and that you
understand my
intentions and how
to proceed ahead?
I will await your
thoughts.
SGT Mustafa Kemal.
E-mail:
sgtkemal@r7.com
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