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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:
- "confidential business" (scammers urge victims to keep the transaction secret because they don't want anyone to point out to them that it is a scam)
- 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.
- sandrine.tagro205@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Miss Sandrine Tagro" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <sandrine.tagro@post.com>
Date: Sat, 8 Jul 2017 12:41:38 -0700
Subject: Urgent Email From Miss Sandrine Tagro.
Miss Sandrine Tagro
Email: sandrine.tagro205@gmail.com
Hello Dear,
I hope that you receive my email in good health, I am Sandrine Tagro. I solicit that you assist on this important and confidential business transaction,
It is a fund transfer of (Eleven Million Five Hundred Thousand dollars) I nherited from my late parents for an urgent real estate project.
If you agree, kindly reply to my private email to enable me give you more details and your role. For your assistance, i have set aside 20% of the total sum as your commission.
Wishing you a lovely day.
Miss Sandrine Tagro.
Email: (sandrine.tagro(@)post.com)
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Anti-fraud resources:
