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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 message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
- This email lists mobile phone numbers. Use of such numbers is typical for scams because they allow criminals to conceal their true location. They can receive calls in an Internet cafe from where they send you emails, while pretending to be in some office.
- 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.
- laygeorge1@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. George Lay" <laygeorge1@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 26 Oct 2013 18:39:27 +0200
Subject: RE:REPLY
Hi There,
Greetings!
I don't know if you received my email earlier this year 2013, My name is
George Lay, i have a big interest in investing in a potentials of good
business attraction that would be profitable and I will appreciate if we
can discuss more about any project you can suggest.
Please, feel free to contact me any time , so we can discuss in details as
am already in South Africa.
Always contact me on my private email: laygeorge1@gmail.com and my phone
number +27-845945429
Hope to receive your earliest response.
Regards
Mr. George Lay
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Anti-fraud resources:
