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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:
- "your urgent reply" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.Dominic Frimpong." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frimpongd910@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 2016 19:02:00 -0000
Subject: GOOD DAY.
Good day,
I represent a community of small scale local miners and sourcing for buyers who will encourage them acquire mining equipment and machinery to improve in our capacity.
We have some 500Kg of gold dust with purity 93.5% and above,22 karat, We are in search of large scale buyers interested in buying the quantity available to enable the community raise funds in other for us to increase our rate of production. Based on that, the price has been slash below the international gold marketing price.
Your interest should be known to enable us discuss the terms and come to an agreement.
Awaiting your urgent reply.
Best regards,
Mr.Dominic Frimpong
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Anti-fraud resources:
