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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "dear sir/madam" (a standard Nigerian greeting phrase)
- This email message is a next of kin scam.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- mullerkarl1964@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: karl muller <maxmenese02@gmail.com>
Reply-To: mullerkarl1964@gmail.com
Date: Sat, 30 Jul 2022 06:34:28 -0500
Subject: urgent reply
Dear Sir/Madam
I am Karl Muller, attorney at law German Bench and solicitor to a
deceased Construction Engineer with a German Construction firm. The
deceased was an expatiated staff with similar surname as you who
worked in Germany for 15years without history of his family line. He
died leaving a huge fund deposit in a bank outside of Germany in
intestate ( without registered next of kin) .
As his attorney, I intend to present you to this bank as his next of
kin and claim the deposit as your inheritance. We will share the
proceed of this inheritance between us at 45:45 basis while 10% will
be earmarked for expenses we incur in the cause of this transaction.
The bank has written me severally to present a next of kin to this
account which prompted my search of the internet for a name match and
found you. Please get back to me with the information below for start
of this process and further explanation of the details;
* Your full names
* Address and country located
* Telephone number
* Age
We will get this completed within 5 working days with maximum
cooperation from you., As I wait your earliest. Response.
Thank you.
Karl Muller esq.
Email:mullerkarl1964@gmail.com
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Anti-fraud resources:
