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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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "ANNA GUTH" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <annaguth147@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 05:13:27 -0700
Subject: NEED A REPRESENTATIVE(87)
Dear Sir/Madam,
I am Mrs. Anna Guth from Australia.
I am 68 years old; I am suffering from a long time cancer of the breast.
From all indication my conditions is really deteriorating and it is quite obvious that I can't work or do any stressful thing. According to my doctors they have advised me that I may not live for the next two months, this is because the cancer stage has gotten to a very bad stage. I was brought up from a motherless babies home was married to my late husband for twenty years without a child.
My Husband (Tom Guth) died in a fatal motor accident before his death we were true Christians. Since his death I decided not to re-marry,
I have a loaan i am expecting from the United states and need a representative to act on my behalf in the united states.
I am willing to give my representative 5% of the loan i get so i can use the loan to offset my medical bills and other incurred bills.
Presently, am using my laptop in the hospital at in London where I have been undergoing treatment for my sickness.
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Anti-fraud resources:
