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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: Mrs Sophie Kala <sophie_kala01@rediffmail.com>
Reply-To: mrs.sophiekala@yahoo.co.uk
Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2013 08:59:35 +0100 (BST)
Subject: DEAR GOOD FRIEND IN CHRIST
DEAR GOOD FRIEND IN CHRIST
Greetings to you and sorry if this message came to you as a surprise. My name is Mrs.Sophie Kala a widow, I found Your email through my husband internet data late Mr.Silas Kala.
I am presently admitted at the hospital suffering from a blood cancer and Parkinson diseases. I have some funds at bank inherited from my late husband account the amount of $12,500.000 Us Dollar.I wish to know if I can trust you to use the funds for charity project and %10 will go to you as compensation because my Doctor mentioned that I'will only last for two months I will like this Fund to be transfer in your account at your Country so that whatever happen to me I will be rest assured that the Vow I and my Late Husband made to the Almighty God have come to accomplished than to die & live it for the Government. Kindly get back to me so that I will give you more details.
Yours in Christ,
Mrs.Sophie.
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Anti-fraud resources:
