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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:
- "lagos" (a location commonly mentioned in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "MR. JAMES F. ENTWISTLE" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Entwistle-JAMES@qq.com>
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2014 16:28:02 -0400
Subject: Hello
The united states embassy has resolved on a d i p l o m a t i c mission to nigeria on-behalf of 100 scam victims to be compensated after
police arrested some f r a u d s t e r s in lagos nigeria who mentioned your particulars as one of the victims of circumstances
congratulations for your name were among the list to be p a i d $ 5 m us dollars compensation. so re-confirm below information so that there
will not be any mistake
your full name
your current house address
current direct telephone
occupation & age
call my secretary with this number for more information: + 2 3 4 8 1 8 7 0 2 7 7 2 5
congratulations once again.
my best regards.
mr. James F. Entwistle
United State Ambassador to Nigeria
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Anti-fraud resources:
