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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:
- "dear friend" (a common phrase found in 419 scams)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: " UK Grant Funding Agency" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <federalgovernmentgrantfunding@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 28 Aug 2022 12:47:47 -0700
Subject: Dear Friend
Dear Friend
Today is exactly 3 years, one of your customers Bert Valverde deposited funds in UBA Bank that has your name as the beneficiary. We have made several contacts to reach you and could not get through which we now write to inform you about it. It is very important that you respond to this so that we will know you got this email. I have
been mandated to ask what the cause of the delay is about your non-response back to the UBA Bank concerning the fund in their Bank to you. The UBA Bank is under pressure from Mr Clinton Guzman the man who still claims that you are dead and that you made him your Beneficiary
and next of kin of your fund so should be given to him.
Kindly contact your Bank assigned account officer
Regards
David Smith
Operations Manager/Director
Federal Government Grant Funding Agency UK
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Anti-fraud resources:
