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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:
- "contact me immediately" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mrs. Mary Willfied" <jcameron@brewstermorhous.com>
Reply-To: marywillfied@yahoo.fr
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2015 13:49:08 -0400
Subject: Please reply back
I know that this letter may be a very big surprise to you. My name is Mrs.
Mary Willfred I am a dying woman who has decided to donate what I have to
you and the charity organization around your community. I am 62 years old
and I was diagnosed for cancer for about 2years ago immediately after the
death of my husband who has left me everything he worked for and because
the doctors told me I will not live longer than some weeks because of my
health I decided to WILL/donate the sum of $16.5m to you and charity
organization since I did not have a child.You should contact me
immediately with your Complete contact informations so that I will put you
in contact with the bank to enable you arrange with them on how to
transfer the money for the purpose mentioned above.
Best Regards,
Mrs. Mary
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Anti-fraud resources:
