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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: "Mrs Wessing Taylor" <wendyarandas@sheldonisd.com>
Reply-To: <mrswessingtaylor@gmail.com>
Date: Sat, 29 Oct 2022 15:29:00 -0700
Subject: [EXTERNAL EMAIL - USE CAUTION] Dear Sir/ Madam
CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. DO NOT click links, provide credentials or open attachments unless you validate the sender and know the content is safe.
Dear Sir/ Madam
My name is Mrs Wessing Taylor , I am the Branch Manager of the Bank were i work. There is in existence some funds that belongs to a customer who died several years back.I have contacted you because i believe you will assist me , He left an inheritance presently without any claim up till date. The said funds have been here in our bank for many years without any claim.
Please get back to me on my direct email address , i will give you the full details of my proposal.
I will await your positive response to this mail as soon as possible.
Yours sincerely
Mrs Wessing Taylor .
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Anti-fraud resources:
