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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:
- "huge amount of money" (they want you to be blinded by the prospect of quick money, but the only money that ever changes hands in 419 scams is from you to the criminals)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: my private office <deliveryman019@gmail.com>
Reply-To: myofficemail002@bk.ru
Date: Mon, 16 May 2022 09:46:40 +0100
Subject: THIS WILL BE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU IF YOU CAN ANSWER ME NOW
This is US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelos and i'm writing
this letter to you to tell you one of my secret which i want you to be part
of this, I went to Ukraine to meet with their President Volodymyr
Zelensky over the conflict between Ukraine and Russia and remember that i'm
a woman and i'm not happy with what i saw over there if you can reason with
me.
My President here in U.S approved a very huge amount of money to support
Ukraine to purchase ammunition to face Russia but i don't like it, i mean
people are dying everyday and i'm saying everything you heard on television
just to please my president who sent me to Ukraine not that i was
supporting war between the two countries, Another $40b has been approved
again if you are listening to the news some days ago but the reason why i'm
telling you all this is what i have on my possession now which is $8.7m usd
and i want to move this fund to your account or in any form you may wish
to receive it until this period is over.
You will handle this for me because, I don't want to release this fund to
Ukraine President and they will buy more arms and continue the war and
every expenses you will make on this transaction will be refunded to you
when this business is successful and remember that you will give me only
$3.5m and remaining $5m belong to you
I will wait to hear from you when you write back then I will direct you
more on how we will go about this to make it successful
Thanks
US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelos .
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