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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: Bobby Smith <festus.opoku@gmail.com>
Reply-To: bobbysimeth@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2018 14:45:07 +0000
Subject:
SSBhbSBjb250YWN0aW5nIHlvdSBpbiByZXNwZWN0IG9mIG91ciBsYXRlIGNsaWVudCB3aG8gZGVw
b3NpdGVkIGZ1bmQNCnZhbHVlZCBhdCB0aGUgc3VtIG9mICQ2LDIwMCwwMDAuMDAgaW4gbXkgYmFu
ayxoZSBkaWVkIHdpdGggaGlzIGZhbWlseQ0KaW4gYW4gYXV0byBhY2NpZGVudC4gSSBoYXZlIGNv
bnRhY3RlZCB5b3UgdG8gc3RhbmQgYXMgaGlzIGhlaXIgYW5kDQppbmhlcml0IHRoZSBmdW5kcywg
YWZ0ZXIgdGhlIHN1Y2Nlc3Mgb2YgdGhpcyB0cmFuc2FjdGlvbiwgd2Ugc2hvdWxkDQpzaGFyZSB0
aGUgdG90YWwgZnVuZHMgNTAlLzUwJSBlYWNoLCByZXBseSBiYWNrIGlmIHlvdSBhcmUgaW50ZXJl
c3RlZA0KICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgICAgKEJvYmJ5IHNpbWV0aEBnbWFpbC5jb20pDQoNCkJl
c3QgcmVnYXJkcywNCg0KTXIuIEJvYmJ5IFNtaXRoLg==
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Anti-fraud resources:
