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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:
- "with your full names" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "fredbassala@i.ua" (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: Fred Bassala <webdenisza1@outlook.com>
Reply-To: <fredbassala@i.ua>
Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 06:40:29 +0000
Subject: INVESTMENT PROJECT
My Name is Mr. Fred Bassala, I’m consulting you for my
personal investment plan which I would like to discuss with you and know
the possibility of how we can co-operate and work together to carry it out; I
believe it will be beneficial to both parties
if handled with honesty.
If you have idea of any business in your country where we can invest, kindly
reply me urgently so we will discuss on how to
achieve this effectively. And please furnish me with your full Names, Mobile and Office
Telephone numbers to enable me call
you and discuss with you in details.
I'm willing to offer you the 20% of the total fund which I will invest.
Best Regards,
Mr. Fred Bassala.
(fredbassala@i.ua)
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Anti-fraud resources:
