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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:
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: elizabeth sinbi <elizabeth_sinbi@vip.citiz.net>
Reply-To: elizabeth sinbi <elizabeth_sinbi2010@yahoo.co.jp>
Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2014 17:08:29 +0800 (CST)
Subject: Peace of God be with you.
I am Mrs. Elizabeth Sinbi, a widow patient admitted in hospital suffering from cancer and a convert to faith. I have only a few months to live according to medical report. I do not want you to sympathize for me, but my only regret is that I do not know Jesus earlier in my youth age. But I have resolved to use the best of the short time I have since the lord has blessed me with wealth that I inherited from my late loving husband Mr. Mike Sinbi the sum of €6.000.000 Million Euros. I want a very honest and God fearing person that can use these funds for God's work since I don't have any child to inherit my wealth. I will give you 20% of the total money for you to help me distribute and share these funds according to the instruction I will give to you for the work of God in my next message.
Any delay from you will give me room in sourcing for another person for this same purpose.
Please try to get back to me as soon as possible.
Mrs. Elizabeth Sinbi.
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Anti-fraud resources:
