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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:
- "god fearing " (scammers in West Africa like to use religious phrases)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Orah Grace <graceorah001@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: orahgrace86@yahoo.fr
Date: Sat, 09 Nov 2013 05:36:37 +0100
Subject: I am waiting to hear from you.
Dear.
I am Mrs. Orah Servan-Schreiber Grâce a Young widow suffering from Cancer.
I have some funds I inherited from my late loving husband Mr.David
Servan Schreiber, physician Doctor of Science.The sum of USD $19.5
Millions came back from the Financial company and I need a very honest
and God fearing person that can use these funds for God's work. I want
you to use this fund for the proposed for establishment and
development of building Orphanage Home / Charity Organization, Food
Pantries, Clothes Financial and Security Distributions for the poor
children in your country.
If you're really interested,I will send you all the necessary details
on this case beneficial.
I will be waiting to hear from you.
Grâce.
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Anti-fraud resources:
