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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: "Mr. Kwame Ghazi" <marlasierras@yahoo.com>
Reply-To: kwameghazi1@yahoo.com
Date: Fri, 02 Mar 2018 19:35:48 +0100
Subject: PLEASE I SEEK FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE
I am Mr. Kwame Ghazi,I working with United Nation branch office in Nigeria with our head office in New-York. I am contacting you because of this little girl who's father a U.S citizen died on a road accident 2016 alongside with his family leaving behind this 11 year old girl and she is presently in an orphanage.I plead that you could help me in receiving a contract payment of US$30M that is supposed to be paid to him as a result of the the contract he executed with The Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC).I will present you as his next of kin, when the proceeds are paid to you, we would share the proceeds mutual percentage of 60% will be left in your account for the little girls up-keep to be handed over to her when she come of age. 40% to your kind self. All the legal documents to back up your claim as my friends next-of-kin would be provided, Please contact me at once if you are interested.
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Anti-fraud resources:
