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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: "Benjamin bongo" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <benjaminb34@yahoo.com>
Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2018 23:13:44 -0500
Subject: RE:Response Urgent
Hi
My Name is Benjamin Bongo
My late father deposited the sum of (US $30 Million) together with 280 kilograms
of Gold in a trust financial firm in Accra Ghana I am named on the trust as the
executor. One of the stipulations of the trust is that I be 25 years old to
administer the funds, I am 22 years now. The only way to access the funds is to
have a partner whom will stand for me and they will release the fund to us,
I will forward you the contact information of the
financial firm where my late father deposited the money with some documents
it will be my pleasure to compensate you with half of the total funds and
Gold for your help,you can add me on Skype:benitofx
Best Regards
Benjamin
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Anti-fraud resources:
