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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 next of kin scam.
Fraud email example:
From: Wilson Davidson <davidson.wilson028@gmail.com>
Reply-To: wlsndvdsn@gmail.com
Date: Tue, 7 Mar 2023 10:09:07 +0000
Subject: Hello
Hello,Kindly be informed that this email that came to your mailbox is
not an error but was specifically addressed to you for your
consideration. I have a proposal of ($7.500.000.00) left by my late
client Engineer Carlos, who used to work and lived here in Lomé Togo.
My late client and family were involved in a car accident that took
their lives. I am contacting you as the next of kin to the deceased so
you could receive the funds upon claims.I will give you more details
upon your reply
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Anti-fraud resources:
