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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Mrs Gloria Pearson <brown.gates@yahoo.co.uk>
Reply-To: gloriapearson59@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2012 14:26:10 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Private Money @ Help
Dear Friend,
My Name is Mrs Gloria Pearson, I am 59 years old and I was diagnosed for cancer for about 2 years ago immediately after the death of my husband who has left me everything he worked for and because the doctors told me I will not live longer than some weeks because of my health I decided to WILL/donate the sum of US$18.5M to you for the good work of humanity and also to help the motherless and less privilege and also for the assistance of the widows.
Since then I have dedicated my time and money to help the homeless , singles mothers and children in distress and in need of food and medication. We are also interested in building hospitals and places of worship to rural areas where it will be mostly needed.
Should you be interested in joining the humanitarian team, I wish you all the best and may the good Lord bless you abundantly and please use the funds well and always extend the good work to others.
Any delay in your reply will give me room in sourcing for other organization for this same purpose. It is very important you forward to me your information as stated below:
1 . Your full name
2 . Contact fixes address
3 . Telephone numbers
4 . Your age and occupation
Reply this email only if you are interested in joining the humanitarian team so that we will advise you with further details.
Regards,
Mrs Gloria Pearson
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Anti-fraud resources:
