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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: (sent from abused email account)
Reply-To: secchurch@yahoo.cn
Date: Sun, 14 Aug 2011 16:28:01 +0100
Subject: GIVING FOR LIFE.
=3CBR=3E=3CBR=3EI am Mrs Sera Church=2EI am a dying woman who have decid=
ed to donate what I have to Charities=2E I am 49 years old and was diagn=
osed for cancer about =
=3CBR=3Etwo years ago=2C immediately after the death of my husband=2C I =
have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from my la=
te husband for the good work of God=2C rather than allow his relatives u=
se my husband=27s hard earned money ungodly=2E As I lay on my sick bed=2C=
I want you to help me in carrying out my last wish on earth which will =
be very profitable to you=2E I want to WILL a total sum of =A34=2E8 Mill=
ion Great Britain Pounds Sterling to you which you shall distribute to c=
harity homes for me=2CPlease for further information contact me on my pr=
ivate email id=3A =
=3CBR=3E
=3CBR=3Esecchurch01=40qatar=2Eio =
=3CBR=3E
=3CBR=3ESincerely=2C =
=3CBR=3ESera Church=2E=3CBR=3E=3CBR=3E
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Anti-fraud resources:
