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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:
- "is 100% risk free" (almost true for the criminal trying to scam you - arrests of online criminals are rare)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Dr. Donna Wheeler" <cgi.net01@att.net>
Reply-To: donna_wheeler197@yahoo.com
Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2012 17:10:01 -0400
Subject: Can you be trusted?
I am Doctor Donna Wheeler. I work with the United Nations military community in Afghanistan; Kabul and Irag;
Baghdad. I have an urgent diplomatic and business proposition to discuss with you involving an investment
initiative in your country's economy. It will be of mutual benefit to us and I believe you can handle it once
we have a common understanding and mutual cooperation in the execution of the modalities. I must assure you
that this transaction is 100% risk free and you have nothing to fear about as you are under immunity coverage.
Hence you are interested I will give directives on exactly how the deal could be accomplished accurately.
Should you be interested,please email back to me.
Best Regards.
Dr. Donna Wheeler
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Anti-fraud resources:
