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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: Etim <mrjsmith1110@gmail.com>
Reply-To: iyange@yandex.com
Date: Sun, 20 Mar 2022 17:35:47 +0100
Subject: WAITING TO HEAR FROM YOU
The Federal Government recently released some list of victims of
international fraud and they were recommended for compensation through
the Debt Management Office (DMO). Each name on the list will receive the
sum of $3m. A critical study of the list discovered that some of the
names that made it to the list had passed on and there is nobody to claim
the money for the dead victims therefore, I would like to know if you will
be willing to receive the compensation if your name is fixed on the list
in place of any of the dead victims. The condition is that you will get
$50% and I will take $50%, Send your name, your phone number and your
contact address if you are willing.
Sincerely,
Etim Iyang
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Anti-fraud resources:
