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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 Cynthia Thomas <info11@0000001429.onmicrosoft.com>
Reply-To: <carlos_steven02@att.net>
Date: Sat, 21 Dec 2013 10:41:51 +0530
Subject: I have been touched by God
I am Mrs. Cynthia Thomas,a devoted Christian and I have been diagnosed of cancer a few
years ago immediately after the death of my husband who left me everything he had worked
for. I have been touched by God to donate from what I have inherited from my late husband
to you for the good work of God rather than allow my greedy relatives to use my husband's
hard earned funds in ungodly way. Contact my Attorney Carlos Steven
for more details with this specified
Email: carlos_steven01@att.net
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Anti-fraud resources:
