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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 "dying widow" scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Elizabeth Cordioti" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <seihrag@yahoo.com.hk>
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 2014 05:16:07 -0500
Subject: Re: Greetings to you
Hi am Elizabeth Cordioti I am married to Late Dr. Agostino Cordioti, an Italian
Businessman, we were married for Thirty Two years without a child. I have been
diagnosed with Blood disease which has resulted into stroke.
I have been touched to donate from what I have made from this World to charity
through you for the good work of humanity. Email me so I can tell you what you
need to do and also give you more details about myself and the charity funds.
God Bless You
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Anti-fraud resources:
