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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: "Capt. H. A. Walter" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <h.a.walter@outlook.com>
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 11:35:11 -0800
Subject: REPLY ASAP PLS.
Good Day!!
I am Capt. H. A. Walter, an officer in the U. S Army. I served in Iraq for over 8 years before I was deployed to Afghanistan. During my service in Iraq, I was able to secure huge cash as my share. This is part of the cash we discovered in Baghdad which was undeclared at that time. You can find the history on the BBC and CNN Link below:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2967029.stm
http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/21/world/asia/afghanistan-us-troops/index.html
I have also made arrangement on how to move this box to you if you can confide in me. I want to hand over this funds to a trust worthy person that can help me keep it safe until I return back from service so that both of us can establish joint investment or business. Can you be trusted? Kindly send me your name, address and cell phone # for easy communication.
I had to arrange the cash in a military box and moved to a secure location in Europe with the assistance of our contact person (A private Doctor of our British military colleague), kindly reply so I can give you the contact info of the Doctor.
Please kindly keep this transaction Confidential because I am still serving in the Military camp here in Afghanistan.
Capt. H. A. Walter
US Rescue Team, Afghanistan
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Anti-fraud resources:
