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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:
- "statessecagency@live.co.za" (this email address has been used in a known scam)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: Reserve Paying Cenntre South Africa <reserveaytcenntre@gmail.com>
Reply-To: acgen234567890@gmail.com
Date: Mon, 20 Mar 2023 18:06:36 +0100
Subject: payment notice
Sir,
Be reliably informed that the Republic of South Africa and Federal
Government of Nigeria in conjunction with the United Nations and the
European Union has approved the sum of
$10.5m to you as a scam victim to compensate you so you should quickly
update us with your banking details for the payment or you send your
address and telephone number for the fund to be paid to you in the
form of visa master card. We will be waiting for your timely response
in this regard.
Thank you,
Dr. Soliso Mbape,
Financial Officer, Reserve Paying Centre,
Republic of South Africa
Alternative Email (statessecagency@live.co.za)
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Anti-fraud resources:
