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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: "John F. Karl" <www.@lime.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: "John F. Karl" <johnkarl450@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 3 Apr 2016 15:15:10 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Good day,
Good day, I am Mr. John F. Karl the new Appointed United States Ambassador to Benin Republic without mincing words the new Benin Republic Government has promise to compensate all the scam victims by people who claim to be high government officials banks and thereby defrauding people of they hard-earned money.
I say congratulations once again. know that as soon as you confirm to me the personal information stated by the email your full names: your residential address: Country: Cell phone I will carry the instruction giving to me immediately in your favor and also send me your ID card and any of the payment slip you make to any of them.
Best Regards,
Mr. John F. Karl
United State Ambassador to Benin Republic
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Anti-fraud resources:
