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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:
- "courier service" (Courier companies mentioned in 419 scams are always fake. They will have you send money to them, but won't deliver anything. )
- 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.
- dhloff555@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: "Ms.Marie Jason" <jessica.stella@tin.it>
Reply-To: dhloff555@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2018 05:10:30 +0200 (CEST)
Subject: YOUR ATM CARD IS READY AVAILABLE HERE ?
My Name is Ms.Marie Jason
delivery agent with DHL courier service.Our company received a notice
from Custom Regulatory Agency at JFK International Airport that your
atm card which was intercepted by the agency has been release.This
mean that the atm card will be shipped directly to your residence from
the airport without involving any of our company agent.
My colleague assigned with the delivery died last years as result of
this, the delivery was interrupted and suspended.The Airport contacted
our company last week through the company information on your package
to inform us about the decision of the US Government to release the
atm card.
The Airport want to make sure that the atm card is delivered to you
that is why they contacted our office to reach out to you to avoid
them dispatching your atm card to wrong recipient address.I will give
you the custom contact details when i hear from you.
Thank you for your patient,
Email Address :( dhloff555@gmail.com )
Ms.Marie Jason
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Anti-fraud resources: