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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:
- "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.
- 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.
- internationalconsultantch@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "SWISS CONSULTANT CH" <apple@zimbra-khgg.lrnc.net>
Reply-To: swiss.consultant@yandex.com
Date: Tue, 24 May 2016 05:28:22 -0700
Subject: HELLO DEAR
Ms. P. Way
Top Investment Consultant
Based In Switzerland
Reference : 468478
PROPOSAL NOTE
Hello and good day to you.
My clients a well known high net-worth individual has funds for investment, if you are interested , please get back to me via email info@swissconsultantch.com or via my telephone +41435084753 for further details as this is 100% risk free and legitimate.
I look forward to working with you.
Best Regards,
Ms. P. Way
Assistant to Mr. Khodorovsky
Alternative email: internationalconsultantch@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
