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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 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Kenneth Williams <"www."@etude.ocn.ne.jp>
Reply-To: Kenneth Williams <kenjuliet2021@gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2017 06:52:29 +0900 (JST)
Subject: Kenneth & Juliet Williams
Greetings my dear friend and how are you doing today? I am Kenneth and my younger sister Juliet Williams from Republic of Sierra Leone, I and my sister is the only Son and daughter of Late General Alexander Williams, am 16 years of age and my sister is 14 years of age, right now am contacting you for the transfer of our inheritance fund that is deposited with a bank of Côte d'Ivoire to your own bank account in your country for my coming over for investment, Please reply me very urgent so that i can give you more details of the transfer and ourselves and will also send you passport photo immediately i read from you.
I wait your reply
Best Regards
Kenneth & Juliet Williams
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Anti-fraud resources:
