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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 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 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.
- pelletier.clara@hotmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Mme Clara PELLETIER <mezerdi@univ-biskra.dz>
Reply-To: pelletier.clara@hotmail.com
Date: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 06:15:14 +0100
Subject: RE:Bonjour Projet,
--
Bonjour
Je soussignée Mme Clara PELLETIER âgée de 81 ans de nationalité
canadienne, je vous envoie ce présent message pour solliciter votre
accord
pour la réalisation d'un projet de donation.Je soufre d'un cancer de
gorge
en phase terminal et mon docteur vient de m'annoncer après plusieurs
analyses médicales sans résultats, que mes jours sont comptés.
Pour cela je décide de vous léguer à titre de don ma fortune en banque
en Afrique de l'ouest où je m'étais installer après la mort de mon mari
dans la crise libyenne.
Ce capital financier est estimé à un montant d'un million cinq cent
mille
dollars américain (.500.000 USD). Ma famille qui devrait bénéficier de
cela m'avait rejetée pour la simple raison de mon mariage avec un noir
libyen commerçant des produits pétroliers.
Merci de répondre à ma sollicitation pour me permettre de réaliser des
Å“uvres humanitaires par votre biais : pelletier.clara@hotmail.com
Cordialement
Mme Clara PELLETIER
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Anti-fraud resources:
