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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:
- "mrsfatimah_karim@outlook.com" (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: "Fatimah Karim" (may be fake)
Reply-To: <mrsfatimah_karim@outlook.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Nov 2014 20:00:19 -0800
Subject: Hello Friend
Hello Friend,
How are you today and your family members? I hope all is well to the glory
of Allah. I am writing this mail to you with heavy tears In my eyes and
great sorrow in my heart as my doctor told me that I have less than two
months to die as a result of my esophagus cancer. Based on this, I want to
WILL my wealth to you for the benefit of the orphans; I grew up as an
Orphan. So I need you to help me
receive the funds and build a charity foundation outside my country; which
shall bear my name
in my memory when I am gone and in helping the orphans and poor kid in
Africa. I do not have anybody/family member to take care of my wealth as
my husband's dead. I am bequeathing 20% of the total sum to you; While 80%
will be used for the charity work. The total money in question is
$3.5 Million. I do not want to entrust this project to any existing
organisation in order to ensure that my dreams charity foundation project
is actualized under my name. I need your full name, full address and phone
number for references. I will provide you with more
detail once I receive the above requested information of yours.
Get back to me as quickly as possible on your willingness to execute this
contract judiciously. Reply to me on: mrsfatimah_karim@outlook.com
Best Regards,
Mrs Fatimah Mhd.
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Anti-fraud resources:
