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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.
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Monica Lewis" <donationoffer@yahoo.co.jp>
Reply-To: monlew0@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 31 Jan 2014 12:56:21 +0100
Subject: Greeting
Greeting
My name is Mrs. Monica Lewis writing from sick bed.
I have plans of humanitarian program in your country for helping orphans,
abandoned children and the underprivileged, educational scholarships
and helping widows who have problems existing economic difficulties in
your country. Can you be trusted to the management of $3.8 million
for a social programs and humanitarian? These funds are the fruit of my
late husband's enterprise that died in Tsunami disaster in Phuket Thailand
years back. Our marriage is fruitless because we have no child and my
days are numbered due to condition of my health. Reply urgently
for my confirmation of your capability to
this project gloriously to the Kingdom of God.
Best regards,
Monica Lewis
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Anti-fraud resources:
