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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 phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "might come to you as a surprise" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- "million british pounds" (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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "here in united kingdom" (this email uses bad English)
- 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.
- mr_paul76@yahoo.co.uk (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Paul George" <mrpaul@virgilio.it>
Reply-To: mr.paul98@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Mon, 08 Jun 2015 22:52:50 -0500
Subject: Att:Sir/Madam Joint Venture partnership.
From :Mr Paul George.
Att :Sir/Madam.
Compliments to you and your family?
This mail might come to you as a surprise and the temptation to ignore it as
unserious could come in to your mind; but please consider it a divine wish and
accept it with a deep sense of humility.
I am Mr Paul George,Investment and financial/consultant working with a
Bank here
in United Kingdom.The Bank want to transfer the sum of 32,000,000 (Thirty
Two Million British Pounds)for investment and development in your
country.As at
this moment i want to know if you will be capable to handle this
transaction so
that,I can explore business opportunity together with you.I had discussed this
issue with the Bank board of directors and they have instructed me to
look for a
foreigner who will be capable to handle this transaction so that we
can transfer
this money out from Uk for investment in your country.
Let me hear from you if you are interested,reply on PRIVATE EMAIL
mr_paul76@yahoo.co.uk
I need your telephone nos. Both Home and Office/Mobile.
Thank you for your time and attention.
Yours truly,
Mr.Paul George.
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