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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "NAT WEST BANK LONDON" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <xinweii1@yahoo.com.cn>
Date: Sun, 11 Aug 2013 15:07:51 +0300
Subject: PLEASE READ CAREFULLY
Hi,
My Name is Xin Wei former Accountant with SNS BANK (www.snsbank.nl) Netherlands Branch. I am presently working with NatWest
Bank London, here in England.
I have a proposal to discuss with you about a certain bonded account owned by one of my late client. Please contact me
through email for more details as regards the bonded account.
My contact with you as regards the bonded account will be beneficial to all parties concerned. I choose to make contacts with
you on this due to one reason which would be made known to you as we progress
Regards,
Xin Wei
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Anti-fraud resources:
