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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.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "united state of america" (this email uses bad English)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Jennifer Rogers." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <jeny.rogers12@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Wed, 8 Feb 2012 16:58:12 +0100
Subject: Dear Beloved
Dear Beloved
I am Mrs.Jennifer Rogers,the wife of Mr.Kenneth Rogers,both of us are
citizens of the united state of America. my husband worked with the
Chevron/Texaco in Hong Kong for twenty years before he died in the year
2003.We were married for ten years without a child. My Husband died after
a brief illness that lasted for only four days. Before his death we both
got born-again as dedicated Christians.
When my late husband was alive he deposited the sum of 7.5million GBP with
a bank in europe and the bank just wrote me. Presently, I'm in a hospital
in Hong Kong where I have been undergoing treatment for throat cancer.
have since lost my ability to talk and my doctor told me that I have
only a few weeks to live.It is my last wish to see this money distributed
to charity organizations and gO anywhere in the World in helping human
race.Please i need you to stand as my beneficiary.Please my beloved for
further communication on how we are going to conclude this,
I await your soonest response to my mail.
Your Sister in Christ,
Jennifer Rogers.
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Anti-fraud resources:
