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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.
- The following fake company names, fake addresses, non-existent institutions/documents or other details have appeared in scams before:
- "industrial and commercial bank of china" (not involved with lotteries)
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "please endeavor to " (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- 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.
- fuzhongjun@yahoo.com.hk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Fu Zhongjun" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <fuzhongjun@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Mon, 11 May 2015 18:34:40 -0300
Subject: I NEED YOUR IMMEDIATE ATTENTION ON MY PROPOSAL
I am Executive Director, from the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC). I have a mutual business
proposal, which relates to the transfer of a large sum of money to a foreign account, with your help as a foreign
partner, as the recipient of the funds. Everything about this transaction will be done legally without problems
with any financial authority. Please endeavor to observe utmost discretion in all matters relating to this issue. If
you are interested, please reply back via my private email address written below, and I will give you more
information about myself and the project as soon as I receive your positive response.
Private email:fuzhongjun@yahoo.com.hk
Friendly greeting
Executive Director.
ICBC China
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Anti-fraud resources:
