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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: "Mr. Henk Boelens" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <henkboel96@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 21 Jul 2016 17:33:13 +0300
Subject: Hello
Dear Friend
I work with Western Associate Bank here in Belgium as a branch bank manager. I discovered an abandoned big sum of money in an account that belongs to one of our foreign customers Late Dr. Erin Jacobson, an American citizen who unfortunately lost his life and his entire family in Montana plane crash on March 23, 2009, on their way to a group ski vacation. I got your contact email address from the internet directory, i want to know if you are willing and able to stand as the next of kin to late Dr. Eric Jacobson. If you are interested i will forward you full details of all you need to know in this deal.
Mr. Henk Boelens.
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Anti-fraud resources:
