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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:
- "dear friend" (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)
- "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: "Terry Leo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <LEOTERRY171@YAHOO.COM>
Date: Mon, 22 Aug 2016 22:35:34 +0300
Subject: Re
Dear Friend
I am Mr Terry Leo a financial consultant in UK;I am contacting you in respect of my late client fund 12.7 Million British Pounds deposited with a bank here in UK which is about to be confiscate by his bank/British government after many years unclaimed; I decided to contact you because you bears the same last name/surname with him ; Kindly indicate your interest by sending me your full data ;
1)full name ,
2)age,
3)marital status
4)postal address
5)job/position
6)phone number
You will be entitle to 50%;40% for me and 10% to defray all cost ;
You should be rest assured that this is 100% risk-free also free from any scam/fraudulent act
Yours Sincerely
Terry Leo
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Anti-fraud resources:
