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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.
- 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: "Desmond Maseko" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <desmondmasekko@superposta.com>
Date: Thu, 27 Mar 2014 08:03:16 +0800
Subject: I AM VERY WILLING TO INVEST IN YOUR COUNTRY WITH YOU AS MY PARNTER
My name is Desmond Maseko, from South Africa and I am a 55years old married man with four children and a lovely wife, I got your contact details from an online directory and was interested in you as my partner because am very willing to invest in your country but I do not have a business permit there since am not a citizen of your country.
If you will be interested to partner with me, then reply my email so I give you the full details and we negotiate terms to start the investment plan.
Special Regards,
Desmond Maseko
Telephone: +277 1151 3523
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Anti-fraud resources:
