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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 Kearson Clark Esq." <jkearsonclark@fastservice.com>
Reply-To: jkearsonclark@gmail.com
Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2017 23:42:31 -0400
Subject: Let me know if with can be of one accord to proceed.
- This mail is in HTML. Some elements may be ommited in plain text. -
Hello;
Sorry for the delay in responding I had been out of town with limited access to my email.
The proposal is actually about a Deceased Client of mine whom is of blessed memory and whom you happen to share the same sur-name with. He died without leaving a heir or next of kin to his estate. His Bank had mandated me as his known Attorney to present forth a next of kin to claim his estate as soon as possible.
I had in good faith scan through all avenues to locate any relation of his to no avail hence my contact with you. Given my expertise knowledge and circumstances, it will be easy to present you as his legal next of kin with all legal documents secured from the court of law and then we can share the estate as soon as it is transferred to your account in an agreeable percentage.
Let me know if with can be of one accord to proceed.
Sincerely,
John Kearson Clark Esq.
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Anti-fraud resources:
