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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:
- "merktony@live.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.
- 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.
Fraud email example:
From: <claimagent6@times298.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <merktony@live.com>
Date: Sat, 9 Nov 2013 19:43:17 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS
Dear: Winner,
Congratulations, your email is among the 10 lucky winners, that has won the sum of USD$500.000.00 (Five hundred thousand dollars Only) in the just concluded draw of Four years world cup anniversary held in South Africa to promote, support and create global awareness for the 2014 FIFA / BRAZIL WORLD CUP sponsored by 20 BLUE CHIP COMPANIES in conjunction with the Brazilian government.
Call Mr Mark Anthony on this phone number :+27717110988 or email him on: merktony@live.com also provide the following information for the processing of your winning fund.
NAME:
CONTACT ADDRESS:
NATIONALITY:
DATE OF BIRTH:
SEX:
MARITAL STATUS:
TELEPHONE NUMBER:
MOBILE NUMBER:
FAX NUMBER:
OCCUPATION:
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Anti-fraud resources:
