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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:
- "secretary13@secretary.net" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "United States Secretary of State" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <Secretary111@usa.com>
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 2019 10:15:52 -0700
Subject: Attn Dear fund owner !!!
Attn Dear fund owner !!!
How are you and your family today? My reason of writing you today is because of the emergency meeting we had with Mr President last night the money that was approved to him for the building of the of the Mexico Border Wall is not enough so he asked me yesterday night to return your payment file for cancel so that your 10.5m will be added to the project, so I asked him to give me from now till next week. I know am not suppose to tell you this but am doing this because I know how much you have spent so far to get this your fund I want to know the actual day you are going to send the money or you are not sending so I will know when to return your payment file to Mr President as he has instructed.
And for your information this is the only office that was appointed to make sure that you receive your fund if you are sending money to and other person you are at your own risk.
I want you to answer me back now and if possible try and give me a call or Text today on +1{202}7695955 Or Email ( secretary13@secretary.net )
Yours in Service,
Mike Pompeo
United States Secretary of State
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Anti-fraud resources:
