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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:
- An email address listed inside this email has been used in a known fraud before.
- 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:
- "trunk box" (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)
- "trunk boxes" (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)
- "million united states dollars" (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)
- "million us dollars" (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.
- This email lists free webmail addresses. Use of such addresses is typical for scams. Lotteries, banks and any but the smallest of companies do not normally use such addresses. Criminals use them to anonymously send and receive email at Internet cafes.
- austinme221989@gmail.com (email address has been used in a known fraud before)
Fraud email example:
From: Captain Austin <succesdimma@gmail.com>
Reply-To: austinme221989@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 09:30:20 -0700
Subject: GREETINGS
May God Bless You
My name is Captain Austin David Presently Serving in Damascus Syria
specifically in Department of Defense Hawk, Missile Launcher, Tech
Track, Explosive Air Traffic Controller and Heavy Equipment Instructor
and Specialist . I'm very desperate in need of your assistance, I have
decided to contact you for your kind assistance to receive for me two
military trunk boxes which contained the sum of 40 million United
States dollars, if I can be assured that my share will be safe in your
care until I complete my service here.
I want to invest this money through you and your assistance is
urgently needed to accomplish this task as I am not free and stable to
manage business due to my service. I am ready to compensate you with
30% of the 40 million US Dollars for your assistance. I do not know
how long I will remain here but I hope to be back before 2024
December, though I am not too sure. I will explain further when I get
a response from you. Kindly contact me on this email address (
austinme221989@gmail.com )
I am Sorry if you may receive this message in your spam folder due to the poor
network failure here.
God Bless You.
Captain Austin David.
US Army Serving in Damascus Syria.
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