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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: BITCOIN PAYMENT POLICY <estherwilliamslawoffice@gmail.com>
Reply-To: paullehmann@diplomats.com
Date: Sun, 29 Aug 2021 07:03:43 +0100
Subject: YOUR FUND READY FOR PAYMENT"PROVIDE A BITCOIN WALLET NOW
US COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY
Your fund $10.5M is ready to be paid to you.Note your fund can only be
paid to you VIA a Bitcoin Wallet Address ID NO:Due to too much
charges/fees been demanded by the banks and government officials before
they can sign for the release of funds belonging to foreigners,the
IMF.UNITED NATIONS and WORLD BANK have made a new policy that any debt
or payment belonging to an individual above $1M should be paid through
a bitcoin wallet address CRYPTOCURRENCY.
You are instructed to provide with immediate effect a bitcoin wallet
address,for your fund to be credited on the wallet for you now.
Signed Blake Paulson
Director US COMPTROLLER OF THE CURRENCY
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Anti-fraud resources:
