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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Alain Bourguignon" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <alainbourgns@aim.com>
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 2015 15:26:38 +0800
Subject: INFORM ME
Good day and how do you do? I am Alain Bourguignon, and Aggregate Industries wish to give you an opportunity in making extra cash for your self, with an along side job that is very constant but is not a full time job. We need you as a representative in collecting payments from our customers whom are ready to pay some of their outstanding bills,and you are directly entitled to 15% of the total sum you collect.
Please get back immediately if interested for the transaction is 100% risk free and you are not spending any penny from your pocket.
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Anti-fraud resources:
