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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:
- "consignment " (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: tom william <tomw8954@gmail.com>
Reply-To: tomwilliam350@gmail.com
Date: Thu, 25 Aug 2022 23:36:04 +0100
Subject: good news
--
Hello my name is tom william from DHL counry company
and this is to officially
inform you that your Consignment box worth the sum of $10.5 million
USD which you have paid a lot of money for and in return got
nothing has been brought to our office yesterday by the United Embassy
and I was instructed to deliver it to your home address immediately,
So all you have to do right now is to get back to me right now with
your full information where you want this your Consignment box to be
delivered to you and also to avoid wrong delivery such as:
1- Your Full Name
2- Your Delivery Address
3- Your Contact Telephone Number
4- Your Occupation
5- Your Email address
6- Your Identification Card
Confirm the below information as soon as possible so that we can
proceed with the delivery immediately .
Thanks for your understanding as you follow instructions while we
await to hear from you today.
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Anti-fraud resources: