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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: Sarah Alfred <sarah_alfre001@yahoo.pt>
Reply-To: Sarah Alfred <sarah_alfre001@outlook.com>
Date: Thu, 8 Jan 2015 17:51:42 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: From me Sarah Alfred
Life is gradually getting away from me due to my medical condition presently and my personal doctor told me that I have few days left to live. In view this setback, I want to donate my property for humanitarian assistance, because this has always been the plan of my late husband and besides I do not have children.
In order to complement the good work of humanitarian services and my desire, I donated a total of Four Million Seven Hundred Thousand Great Britain Pounds to you. On your acknowledgment of this mail and tell me about your nationality and willingness to assist me on this project, my lawyer will facilitate due processes for transferring this heritage to you.
Do assure me that you will use this money wisely on charitable work.
Yours sincerely,
Sarah Alfred
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Anti-fraud resources: