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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:
- "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)
- ",000,000" (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)
- "00,000.00" (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)
- 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.
- infoxx1k@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr.John Wilson." <kenbates283@gmail.com>
Reply-To: infoxs5k@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 5 Jul 2016 11:47:52 -0700
Subject: Contact My Secretary
Good Day
My name is Sarah Rivera from London UK. I am 20 years old girl; I am
the only child to late Engineer Daniel Rivera. My daddy executed
contract with Thailand government two years ago before he dies in car
accident. Before the dead of my late daddy he has the sum of
£10,000,000.00. TEN MILLION BRITISH POUNDS ONLY with Thailand Bank.
I am contacting you if you can be of help and work with me and my
daddyâs lawyer so that we can get the fund out from Thailand bank. My
daddy has an evil brother who wants to claim the fund on his own
because he feels I am a little girl. Please can you be of help? Email
me on my email address: ( infoxx1k@gmail.com ) so that I can tell you
the full story.
Thank you for your cooperation,
Miss.Sarah Rivera.
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Anti-fraud resources: