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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: "Funds Delivery" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <frank.powers@diplomats.com>
Date: Wed, 18 May 2016 09:58:51 +0100
Subject: Re: Funds Delivery Notice
Hello
This is to inform you that your long awaited fund of $15.5 Million is ready for released.
We have secured an Investor that will provide the money needed for the expenses to facilitate the release of the funds to you.
The investor will pay the money into your account and you will use the money paid by the financier to pay for the expenses.
When you receive the package, you reimburse the investor.
The agreement with the investor clearly states that the investor will be reimbursed only after you have received the package. In other words, if you do not receive the package, the investor will NOT be reimbursed. So, this is a win win situation and there are no risks involved.
If you accept these terms,revert to me asap.
Frank Powers
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Anti-fraud resources:
