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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: "Mrs. Muyassar Ahmadi" <ferpardaoqp@gmail.com>
Reply-To: ahmadimuyassar@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 21 May 2015 07:16:57 -0500
Subject: Sir/Madam
--
Good tidings to you, I am Mrs. Muyassar Ahmadi of Syrian nationality and
mother of two kids, at the present time here in the camp for Syrian
refugees
Turkey. He was killed by terrorist attack in Syria. I need your
assistance
to receive Seven Million Three Hundred Thousand Euro with a bank in
Turkey,
which was my late husband deposit. I belief you know of the untold
sorrow
the scourge of war have brought to the Syrian people and I beg you to
find
it in your heart to help us receive the fund and also towards moving out
from here to reaffirm hope of survival to my poor kids. I will provide
you
with more information after I hear from you. Muyassar.
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Anti-fraud resources:
