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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "million dollars" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- 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.
- jimmccullar01@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "JIM MCCULLAR" (may be fake)
Date: Fri, 20 Feb 2015 21:30:54 -0800
Subject: CONGRATULATIONS
I am Mr Jim McCullar the mega winner of $190 Million Dollars Jackpot in Washington,
have voluntarily decided to donate the sum of TWO MILLION to you as part of our own free gift.
WATCH US HERE:
http://youtu.be/7pzSL02ZNlA
THIS IS YOUR DONATION CODE: [ JIM2312011BDB ]
Send me back the DONATION CODE by responding back to this email: (jimmccullar01@gmail.com)
I shall send you more emails as soon as I get the donation code back from you.
Good-luck,
Jim and Carolyn McCullar
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This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
http://www.avast.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
