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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)
- "loan agreement" (Beware of fake loan offers. Real lenders would not normally use free webmail addresses such as Yahoo, nor would they lend to individuals or small businesses in a different country from where they are based. Beware of mobile phones or redirector numbers!)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: <webmaster@yjidc.com >
Reply-To: xu.gtmgroup@gmail.com
Date: 29 Dec 2022 21:54:23 -0800
Subject: =?UTF-8?B?6LS35qy+5LyY5oOgIENvbXBhbnkgUmVwcmVzZW50YXRpdmUvQnJva2VyIE5lZWRlZA==?=, do you speak English? & Can we discuss?
Dear Friend,
I am Xu from Hong Kong, We are Hong Kong Lenders & We are looking
for Financial brokers/representative/agent to work with us to
reach local borrowers. %1 commission will be paid per project
funding. We are still funding from $1million to $10 Billion
(LOAN) to Private Individuals / Company @ 2% interest rate per
annul, for 10 to 15 years yearly with a 2 year grace period.
There will be face-to-face loan closure meeting to sign the loan
agreement and funds disbursement.
Let me know your project for funding and i will send you our
terms and condition.
Xu
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Anti-fraud resources:
