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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: Austin Eriks <luizjaj063@gmail.com>
Reply-To: austin.eriks@yahoo.com
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 06:54:13 -0700
Subject: My last wish
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Hello,
I am Eng. Austin Eriks, a retired Marine Engineer residing in
Trinidad & Tobago before i fall sick, currently i am admitted to the
hospital for an esophageal cancer sickness which has damaged almost
all the cells in my body for over a year now, and my doctor has tested
and confirmed that i will not survive.
Please i need your consent to receive my money (USD$1.8 Million) and
invest it into any business of your choice in your country to help the
orphans and privileges in my name so that my soul can be at rest if
anything happens to me because i have no other relatives not even
children because i lost my family through a fire disaster in 2005
Please i need your urgent and kind response to enable me send you more
information on how to contact my bank as my next of kin to enable them
process the fund into your bank account.
Mr. Austin Eriks
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Anti-fraud resources:
