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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: Ann Kathambi <annketh@gmx.com>
Reply-To: a.kathambi@yahoo.com
Date: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 11:50:44 +0800
Subject: Dear Sir/Madam,
Sir/Madam
I am Mrs Anne Kathambi a citizen of Kenya .I have in my bank the existence of a big amount of money that belongs to a customer, who happen to have the same surname as yours .The fund is now without any claim because the client died in a deadly earthquake in China in 2008 . I want your cooperation so as to make the bank send you the fund as the beneficiary and next of kin to the fund.
This transaction will be of a great assistance to us. Send me your reply of interest.
On receipt of your reply, I will give you details of the transaction. And a copy of the Deposit certificate of the fund and also the incorporation certificate of the company owned by the client, that generated the fund for your perusal .and understanding
Best regards,
Mrs. Anne Kathambi
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Anti-fraud resources: