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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: "BROWN MORGAN" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <brown_morgan@aol.com>
Date: Sat, 25 Jan 2014 16:07:39 -0800
Subject: BUSINESS PROPOSITION FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION
RE: BUSINESS PROPOSITION:
Sir,
With due respect Sir/Madam, I come to you with a sincere heart to present a profit oriented transaction for your consideration and approval. Nevertheless; The Sum of $45 million was concealed in Two Treasure Boxes and deposited with my establishment for intelligent safekeeping under a private arrangement. The Original Depositor/Owner of the aforementioned funds died in August 2013 after a brief illness. I therefore wish to perfect Change of Beneficiary of the $45 million in your name for possible claiming of the funds with a sharing ratio of 50/50. If you accept my offer, kindly provide your telephone numbers for discussion of this offer in full details.
Yours Respectfully,
Mr. Brown Morgan.
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Anti-fraud resources:
